RELATED: Complete rundown on Dash 4 Cash
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Daniel Suarez won two of the four Dash 4 Cash events last season, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver hopes for more success when this year's bonus program kicks off Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Suarez certainly has to be considered a favorite to take home at least one of the four $100,000 bonus checks, and is equally capable of using the program to pave his way into the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase.
"It's a good track for me," Suarez said of the fast, high-banked half-mile. "I hope I can stay in the outside line, but Bristol is a good track for me for sure -- two top fives last year."
Suarez pocketed the bonus at Bristol in the August event, thanks to a fifth-place finish, and again in September at Darlington Raceway with a third-place result.
This year's program offers more than a six-figure bonus for finishing highest among the four eligible Dash 4 Cash drivers in each race. Earning the bonus in two of the four events is the equivalent of winning the race itself, and that should translate into a spot in the series' inaugural Chase.
This year's Dash 4 Cash events are slated for Bristol, Richmond (April 23), Dover (May 14) and Indianapolis (July 23). A year ago, the program's stops were at Dover, Indy, Bristol and Darlington.
There's no extra effort put forth by himself or his JGR team for the Dash races, Suarez said.
"Not really, they happen to be good races for us. It happened to be most of the Dash 4 Cash races were in the second half the year and we were stronger in the second half," Suarez said. "I think things just worked out for us."
Suarez leads JR Motorsports' Elliott Sadler by one point in the standings, and his only finish outside the top eight came a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway when his No. 19 Toyota came home in 16th place.
"Honestly I think the team is doing an excellent job," he said. "It doesn't matter where we go, the team has a good car. I think I'm doing my job decent. We're working super hard. But … all the work the team did during the winter is paying off. I'm confident in them and it seems like they are confident in me."
MORE: Heat races add spice to program
Also new to the program this year are heat races, short sprints following qualifying that will determine the starting order for the main event. At Bristol each heat will consist of 50 laps, followed by a 200-lap main.
"It will be interesting, different for sure," Suarez said of the heat races. "For a driver, we're going to be racing those races harder, be more aggressive. But at the same time you can make many mistakes and if you (do), you are in trouble for the main. It's going to be difficult to manage that. But it's going to be something new for everyone.
"But if you do well, if you win two, you can lock yourself in for the Chase."
An outright win in any XFINITY Series race would accomplish the same thing, something that's not lost on Suarez. He has 11 top-five finishes In 41 career starts, including a runner-up this year at Las Vegas, a third at Phoenix and a fourth at Auto Club Speedway. He took the lead briefly on the final lap at ACS before running out of gas on the backstretch.
"Yeah, that would be easier," he said, "but we're right in there. I think we'll win sooner or later. We just have to keep working to make it happen."