Daniel Suarez relishes NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Saturday in the Chilango 150.
MEXICO CITY – In all his high hopes and hard work over the last year to promote NASCAR’s return to his home country of Mexico, even Daniel Suarez could not have imagined the amazing story of his dramatic win in Saturday’s The Chilango 150 – coming from last place on the grid in a back-up car and charging to Victory Lane.
Daniel Suarez Relishes Victory
After victory spinouts, the 33-year old from Monterrey, Mexico native climbed out of his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, stood on the car’s roof, pounded his chest and pointed upward to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez grandstands – shouting to the thrilled crowd in his native Spanish and thanking his loyal fans for their support.
“It’s everything I was looking for, just a special day,” said an emotional Suarez, the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, who led a race best 19 of the 65 laps and beat Taylor Gray to the checkered flag by 0.598-second in a back-up car the team re-built after he crashed in the morning qualifying session.
“It’s a very special day, very, very special to be here in front of my people, all these people that have supported me for many, many years and known me since my NASCAR Mexico days, now I’m fighting with the big boys,” said Suarez, who was forced to use the ‘international provisional’ starting position after his incident in qualifying.
And even after diligently working his way through the entire 37-car field, Suarez had to ‘earn’ this win–by every definition. The NASCAR Cup Series full-timer went door-to-door with Gray on a restart with three laps, ultimately pulling away, only to fend off a fast-approaching Gray again on the final stretch of the last lap.
Suarez first took the lead Saturday in a similar dramatic fashion, prevailing on a three-wide restart with 19 laps remaining.
He emerged out front after going door-to-door with the race’s early leaders, rookie Connor Zilisch and fellow NASCAR Cup Series regular Ty Gibbs. The polesitter Zilisch, who led 17 laps, wheel-hopped taking the opening corner under those crowded circumstances on the restart, spun, and then hit his JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil as the pile-up behind began.
A Pile Up Involving 13 Cars
Gibbs, a NASCAR Cup Series regular led 18 laps. He moved forward from the initial contact only to make contact with Kvapil’s Chevy in the next turn. The ensuing pile-up affected 13 cars in varying degrees.
Suarez drove through the melee to the crowd’s massive cheers. The Mexican fans stood on their feet with arms raised and Mexican flags in the air.
The Chilando 15 Results
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill finished third, Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes was fourth, and Zilisch recovered to finish fifth in another of his more remarkable drives.
With 17 laps remaining after that incident, Zilisch fell back to 28th place. With damage to the right side of he Chevy, he moved through the field at an amazing pace. Zilisch ultimately, moved up 14 spots in three laps after the restart. With ten laps to go, he was in tenth place and earned a top-five finish.
“I’m proud of my team for their effort,’’ said Zilisch, who leaned against his car alone on pit road, obviously disappointed with the outcome after such a strong afternoon.
“Obviously, the finish isn’t what we wanted. We probably had a better car than fifth place, but we got caught up in an incident on that last restart. Just proud to be able to come here and get a decent finish.
“Congrats to Daniel [Suarez], it’s awesome to see him win here in his hometown. That’s super big for him. Really proud of JR Motorsports and we’ll get it next week.
As for the incident, Zilisch conceded, “Still don’t know what I really could have done to get the to the front quicker, probably could have been a little cleaner on that last restart and gotten by guys quicker … really proud to finish top-five after day like that.’’
William Sawalich, Austin Green, Jeb Burton and his cousin Harrison Burton, and Sammy Smith rounded out the top ten.
There were seven lead changes among six drivers with Kvapil winning the first stage and Smith winning stage two.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Point Standings
Before the end of the first stage the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship leader, Justin Allgaier had to take his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet behind the wall for repairs. He ended the race settling for a 34th-place and 15 laps down to the winner. Fortunately, the reigning series championship leader held a 92-point lead over Hill before the race. He now leads by 54 points.
Next Up
The series travels to Pocono Raceway for its next race on Saturday, June 21st. The Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 starts at 3:30 pm ET. Coverage is on the CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The 2024 winner was Cole Custer who is now racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.