Daniel Suarez Wins First Career Xfinity Race at Michigan

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JACKSON, MI - RIS - Daniel Suarez won his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series race by passing Kyle Busch with two laps to go at Michigan Interntaional Speedway.  Suarez, driving a Joe Gibbs Racing prepared Toyota Camry, was the point leader coming into the race.  It was a major victory for the young driver from Mexico.

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 Menards 250 Presented by Valvoline.

In passing Busch for the win, Suarez beat the best. Busch holds the XFINITY Series record for victories with 80. And Busch has been a willing mentor to Suarez, who also drives a limited schedule for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
 

Paul Menard finished third in a Richard Childress Chevrolet, JGR driver Erik Jones fourth and Elliott Sadler fifth.

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.

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. The speeding penalty wasn't the only obstacle Suarez had to overcome. As he was working his way back to the front after the infraction, the clutch in his No. 19 Toyota failed, causing the car to stall during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 71.

Suarez gradually regained ground over the final half 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 XFINITY Series' 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."

 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.

Team Penske's Joey Logano finished the day sixth, but had post-race problems after failing inspection for laser inspection system (LIS).

 Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 6 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 125 44 4 119.7 Running 2 4
2 5 18 Kyle Busch(i) NOS Energy Drink Toyota 125 0 138.0 Running 3 88
3 12 2 Paul Menard(i) Richmond/Menards Chevrolet 125 0 116.2 Running 1 1
4 2 20 Erik Jones # Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 125 38 1 128.1 Running 2 18
5 3 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Chevrolet 125 37 1 114.3 Running 2 2
6 9 22 Joey Logano(i) Discount Tire Ford 125 0 101.8 Running
7 1 88 Alex Bowman Vannoy Construction Chevrolet 125 35 1 109.0 Running 1 11
8 4 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 125 33 99.3 Running
9 17 6 Darrell Wallace Jr LoudMouth Exhaust Ford 125 32 96.7 Running
10 15 33 Brandon Jones # Nexteer Chevrolet 125 31 88.0 Running
11 8 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 125 30 86.7 Running
12 10 39 Ryan Sieg iDashboards Chevrolet 125 29 85.5 Running
13 7 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 125 28 78.8 Running
14 11 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 125 27 81.8 Running
15 13 3 Ty Dillon Rheem Chevrolet 125 26 90.3 Running
16 18 4 Ross Chastain Dream Water Chevrolet 125 25 72.0 Running
17 20 0 Garrett Smithley # Operating Engineers 324 Chevrolet 125 24 68.7 Running
18 14 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 125 23 78.7 Running
19 24 01 Ryan Preece # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 125 22 65.3 Running
20 21 44 JJ Yeley Zachry Toyota 124 22 1 65.5 Running 1 1
21 22 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com/Diamond Pistons Chevrolet 124 20 69.8 Running
22 16 42 Justin Marks Katerra Chevrolet 124 19 70.0 Running
23 26 07 Ray Black Jr # Scuba Life Chevrolet 123 18 59.2 Running
24 19 28 Dakoda Armstrong Winfield Be Greater Toyota 122 17 55.2 Running
25 29 52 Joey Gase Donate Life/DB Sales Chevrolet 121 16 51.7 Running
26 30 13 Harrison Rhodes OCR Gaz Bar/Mohawk Market Dodge 120 15 48.7 Running
27 37 90 Martin Roy Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet 118 14 45.5 Running
28 31 97 TJ Bell VroomBrands Chevrolet 117 13 50.0 Running
29 36 74 Mike Harmon Dodge 116 12 38.2 Running
30 38 15 Todd Peck Lilly Trucking/Carport Empire Ford 116 11 35.7 Running
31 32 70 Derrike Cope Big Brothers Big Sisters/Jackson Coffee Co. Chevrolet 115 10 40.8 Running
32 35 25 Chris Cockrum Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet 82 9 39.3 Accident
33 23 14 Jeff Green Toyota 75 8 54.3 Transmission
34 28 78 BJ McLeod # Ford 70 7 50.2 Transmission
35 33 92 Mario Gosselin BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet 41 6 36.3 Vibration
36 34 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 16 5 35.0 Oil Leak
37 39 40 John Jackson TLC Vacations Toyota 13 4 26.3 Clutch
38 40 79 Josh Williams DB Sales Chevrolet 11 PE 27.8 Overheating
39 27 93 Josh Wise(i) RSS Racing Chevrolet 8 0 30.0 Rear Gear
40 25 10 Matt DiBenedetto(i) Toyota 3 0 23.2 Rear Gear