Daniel Suarez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race when he won at Sonoma Raceway.
He won in the 195th career start of his Cup Series career, his first victory. He drove his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the third Cup Series victory of the season for the rising 2-year-old team co-owned by former driver Justin Marks.
After taking the lead early in the final stage on a hilly road course in Northern California wine country, he persevered through a pit stop and a caution to take the lead with 23 laps to go. Suarez made no significant mistakes as he rolled to victory.
"I think it's crazy," he said. There are a lot of thoughts in my head. These guys believed in me despite the rough journey I've had in the Cup Series. There are a lot of people I owe a lot of money to. My family was with me the whole time. Many people did, but they didn't. We were able to make it work.
A pinata shaped like a taco was pulled out of the team's celebration when it was over. When he got his first win, he punched a hole through the pinata to celebrate.
He said that his team believed in him since day one. All the resources are available to make it happen.
He told his fans in Spanish that this was the first of many.
His second place finish was his best of the season. He didn't win his second victory.
I'm happy to be that close, but I'm also happy for him. We tried to get him. They ran out of steam.
The five foreign-born drivers who have won a Cup Series race are: He is joined by Australia's Marcos Ambrose and Canada's Earl Ross.
The success of Trackhouse Racing could be good news for the sport. After moving to the U.S. 11 years ago with a desire to race on bigger stages, Luis Suarez is a major success story for NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program.
Sonoma Raceway's first Cup Series race of the season was won by Kevin Harvick in front of a full house, but it was a cloudy day. About 350 rowdy fans from Daniel's Amigos were in the crowd.
Austin Cindric was fifth in the last race of the season.
The cupola works.
The Carousel configuration was used in the previous two editions of this race, but the 1.99-mile Chute track layout was restored. The shorter track didn't seem to lead to more contact in the racing, and not much happened in the first two stages of the race, which were won by the two drivers.
No repeat.
After starting on the pole for the fifth time in a row, he decided not to pit in the first stage, leaving him buried in the field from there. He was fifteenth.
Up next.
On June 26th, the season will resume with a trip to Nashville Superspeedway.
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