Daniel Suarez surged to his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory Saturday atMichigan International Speedway, taking the lead from Kyle Busch with two laps left.
Suarez, the series' points leader, recovered from an early race speeding penalty and rallied in theJoe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. He led four laps and became the first Mexican-born driver to win in any of NASCAR's three national series. He also became the XFINITY tour's sixth foreign-born winner in his 48th career start.
"I just have no words honestly. I don’t think I can speak English or Spanish right now honestly," Suarez said after emerging from his car in Victory Lane. "I can't thank these guys enough for all the hard work -- Joe Gibbs Racing for having the confidence in me along with Toyota, Telcel Mexico, Coca-Cola and everyone who helped put this program together. I have no words to describe what I'm feeling right now."
Busch, a Sprint Cup Series regular, led a race-high 88 of 125 laps in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota but settled for second in the Menard's 250 presented by Valvoline. Paul Menard finished third, Erik Jones fourth and Elliott Sadler fifth.
Suarez was first off pit road during the first caution period, but a speeding penalty knocked him back to 25th place for the Lap 32 restart that followed. He gradually gained ground during the course of the 250-miler, making his most dramatic charge over the long green-flag run to the finish.
Suarez caught and inched ahead of Busch as the two drivers flashed side-by-side under the white flag for the final lap. The 24-year-old Suarez -- a NASCAR Next product and last season's Sunoco Rookie of the Year -- held on for a .281-second margin of victory at the finish.
"Honestly, I was trying as hard as possible -- I was driving a little more on the edge," said Suarez, who virtually clinched a berth in the XFINITYSeries' Chase playoffs. "Honestly, I was maybe risking a little more than I should have. Everything was about the win so I was trying as hard as possible and it seemed like we were good in points, but not very good in wins. I was just very hungry and I know this team was at the same spot, we were very hungry to win races and finally we got the first one."
Jones started second and led 18 laps on an emotional day for the 20-year-old driver. Jones, a Byron, Michigan native, announced through Twitter during Saturday's pre-race that his father had died Tuesday at age 53 after a bout with cancer.
Before the race, he paid tribute to his father, affixing a decal with the name "Dave" in place of his own above the driver's door of hisJoe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota.
Alex Bowman led 11 laps and secured seventh place in just his third XFINITY start of the season in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. He landed his first pole position since 2013 in Saturday's Coors Light Pole Qualifying.
The series' next race -- the American Ethanol E15 250 -- is scheduled June 19 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Iowa Speedway.
NASCAR Race Recap.
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