Daniel Suarez Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Elliott Sadler had a passenger for Saturday’s VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway—in spirit at least. After a breathtaking battle against Denny Hamlin over the closing laps, Sadler crossed the finish-line .454 seconds ahead of Hamlin to win for the first time at the Lady in Black—and immediately dedicated the victory to JR Motorsports team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who announced on Friday he would sit out the remainder of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season becauseRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor NASCAR road course races have become some of the most entertaining races on the schedule over the last several years, but when you throw in rain, things tend to get a little bit chaotic. On Saturday afternoon at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, that is exactly what happened for the drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The 75 lap event started off under overcast skies, but it didn’t take long for the rain that had been forecasted for the weekend to surround the facility andRead More

By Brian Eberly, NASCAR Wire Service NEWTON, Iowa – For 83 laps, it looked like Ty Dillon’s winless drought would finally end. That was until Erik Jones flashed the brilliance that has many predicting big things for the Joe Gibbs Racing prodigy. Jones led a race-high 154 laps in the No. 20 DeWalt Toyota en route to victory lane on Saturday night in the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. Jones passed Dillon with 15 laps remaining to retake the lead for the final time of the night and beatRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Daniel Suarez was speechless—and justifiably so. The Mexican driver had just passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch for the lead on the next-to-last lap and held on to win Saturday’s Menards 250 presented by Valvoline NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Michigan International Speedway by .280 seconds over the man who sets the standard in the series. The first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, Suarez overcame a pit road speeding penalty assessed on Lap 29 of 125Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On Wednesday, NASCAR announced their penalties stemming from last weekend’s trip to Dover International Speedway. The most notable penalty was the P3 level penalty handed out to Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 team for Hendrick Motorsports. The team did not pass post-race inspection on the laser platform and was taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center for further inspection. After evaluating the car, NASCAR fined the team 15 driver and owner points, dropping Kahne out of the top-16 in points. Crew chief Keith RoddenRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – It took 16 tries, but Matt Crafton finally got his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at Dover International Speedway. Holding off hard-charging Daniel Suárez throughout a 27-lap green-flag run to the finish of Friday’s Dover 200 at the Monster Mile, the two-time series champion picked up his first win of the season and the 12th of his career, all but assuring himself a berth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase. “We’ve gotten close and we’ve had veryRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Don’t expect Daniel Suárez to concede his spot atop the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings any time soon. Through his first five races, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver boasts a higher average finish (4.8) than the last five NXS driver champions through the first five contests in their respective championship-winning seasons: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 6.2 (2012); Chris Buescher, 7.8 (2015); Stenhouse, 8.2 (2011); Chase Elliott, 8.8 (2014) and Austin Dillon, 9.8 (2013). In addition, Suárez’s 112.8 driver rating was only outpaced by Stenhouse in his 2012 title-winningRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Seconds after crossing the finish line .715 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon summed up Saturday’s TreatMyClot.com 300 by Janssen in one short sentence. “I’d rather be lucky than good,” Dillon chortled on his team radio after ending evading Busch’s last-ditch attempt to pinch the winning No. 2 Chevrolet into the outside wall at Auto Club Speedway. And that was just the final stanza of a crazy final lap that saw: 1) Busch slow to a crawl, short onRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Kyle Busch calls it a “knack.” His rivals might refer to the continuing saga of Kyle Busch at Phoenix International Raceway as absolute dominance. But the record books will show Saturday’s result in the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 as yet another NASCAR XFINITY Series victory for the Busch juggernaut. Leading 175 of 200 laps at the one-mile race track, Busch notched his ninth victory in 20 starts at PIR. That’s the highest total number of wins by a single driverRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz. – Heading into Phoenix International Raceway, perhaps no one in the XFINITY Series has more momentum than Daniel Suarez. The 2015 Rookie of the Year, Suarez has opened the first three races with three top 10’s, including a runner-up finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That finish enabled Suarez to take over the championship lead for the first time in his young NASCAR career. Suarez, 24, is no stranger to Phoenix International Raceway. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate raced in NASCAR’sRead More