Daniel Suárez at 9 pm ET on Thursday, July 16, 2015 Photo – Jeff Curry/Getty Images
Daniel Suárez is our guest on Fan4Racing with Catchfence NASCAR Weekend Preview on Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 9 pm ET. Call 714-202-9918 with any questions or comments during the LIVE broadcast.
Coming off a successful weekend at Kentucky Speedway, where he captured his second NASCAR XFINITY Series top-five finish with a fourth-place effort in the Kentucky 300, Daniel Suárez now heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway vying to break a tie for the top spot in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings through 16 races in the 2015 season.
All of 2015 has been a learning experience for Suárez who has posted two top-fives, six top-tens and one pole for the season. His average finish, so far is 14.6. When looking at is most recent results, in his last ten series starts, Suárez has posted two top-fives and five top-tens.
Suárez with Joe Gibbs Racing, is turning up the heat in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by drawing even with Roush Fenway Racing’s Darrell Wallace Jr. for the lead at 188 points. Both Suárez and Wallace are making series débuts at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The Monterrey, Mexico, driver will look to move ahead in the top-rookie competition at the 1.058-mile track in Loudon, New Hampshire, in Saturday’s Lakes Region 200 event. Suárez is not a total rookie at the Magic Mile, having made five NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts at the track, including a runner-up finish in the series’ 2013 visit to New Hampshire.
Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota have won five of the last seven XFINITY Series races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with Tony Stewart in 2008, and with Kyle Busch in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. Overall, Joe Gibbs Racing has 33 series starts at the 1.058-mile paved track and has earned five wins, two poles, 16 top-five and 22 top-ten finishes. The organization has led for a total of 779 laps, has an average start of 10.8, an average finish of 10.7 and has completed 6,314 of 6,672 or 94.6 percent of their attempted laps.
Despite this event being his début for the XFINITY Series at New Hampshire, Suárez is looking forward to racing this weekend with some growing confidence as his season progresses.
“I think this coming weekend has a chance to be a very positive one for the No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry team. New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a track that I like a lot,” says Suárez. “I’ve had some positive results there in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and hopefully that can help make this a positive weekend for us in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. I think the team is doing well right now, our confidence keeps growing as well as our goals and expectations. I think we’re getting better as a team every week. We’re more competitive and spending more time up front every week, but we still have to keep pushing and learning. We know there’s still more work to be done and we’re looking forward to doing it.”
Eric Phillips will call the shots from the pit box for Suárez and puts this weekend into perspective.
“With New Hampshire Motor Speedway being very flat, it’s hard to get the car to rotate the center and drive off. Being able to do that well will be key. It will also be important to have a good qualifying effort because this is a track where it is very hard to pass. On race day, we’re going to have three different series on track prior to the race, which means we’ll have to pay attention to how much rubber gets laid down and adjust our Camry to that.”
Watch the XFINITY Series, Lakes Region 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 18, 2015 at 4 pm ET on NBC Sports Network.