MORE: Track Suarez’s path to NASCAR star
Daniel Suarez‘s rise to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition following the abrupt departure of Carl Edwards from full-time racing has us wondering how the incoming Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender will fare in his first season at the big league level.
Let’s take a look back at how the reigning NASCAR XFINITY Series champion has performed throughout his NASCAR career in lower series across tracks he’ll be racing at in 2017.
(Note: While success at certain tracks as a driver moves up the ranks doesn’t necessarily guarantee similar results at the Cup level, it can give a bit of insight into a driver’s strengths and weaknesses.)
First and foremost, Suarez picked up three wins over two full-time seasons in his XFINITY Series career, all three of which came en route in 2016 to his first NASCAR national series title.
The three victories came at Michigan (four laps led), Dover (123 laps led) and, of course, Homestead, where Suarez led a dominating 133 of 200 laps from the pole to secure the race victory and the championship. Three distinct tracks, three different lengths (2 miles, 1 mile, 1.5 miles, respectively.) Tough to draw much from that other than point out that Suarez, clearly, isn’t a one-trick pony.
Let’s dig a little deeper.
Over his 68 total XFINITY Series starts, Suarez had multiple top-five finishes at six tracks. Guess what? None of them were the ones he won at, muddying the picture a bit more. Phoenix and Kentucky top the list with three apiece, followed by two each at New Hampshire, Bristol, Charlotte and Darlington. All of these tracks range 1-mile to 1.5-miles in length, save for the half-mile Bristol. We may be getting warmer.
Suarez has four tracks on his resume at which he averages a finish inside the top five in Darlington, Homestead, New Hampshire and Indianapolis. He’s led more than 100 laps at Homestead and Dover, and has a pole at Kentucky, Homestead, Auto Club and Daytona.
Moving onto the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Suarez has just a single win at Phoenix, but has only compiled a total of 27 starts across three part-time seasons.
Still, he has multiple top-five finishes at Texas (three), Phoenix and Dover, with multiple top-10 finishes at those tracks and Martinsville.
The new driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota also has a pole at Kentucky, where he’s led a total of 77 laps — tied for the most he has at any track in the series with Bristol.
Suarez averaged starts in the top five at three Camping World Truck Series tracks (Kentucky, Chicago and Phoenix), while averaging a finish inside the top five at Dover, Phoenix and Texas.
And, hey, for good measure — he won at Daytona in the K&N Pro Series East in 2014.
Alright, now that our heads are good and dizzy from a blizzard of numbers and facts, let’s digest and make some bold semi-predictions.
If Suarez is able to win a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race — don’t forget, an unexpected rookie won in 2016 (Chris Buescher) and two made the Chase (Buescher and Chase Elliott), so it’s certainly a distinct possibility that he could — it appears the most likely tracks will be in that 1-mile to 1.5-mile range.
Tracks of this stature make up exactly half the schedule, with 10 races before the Chase begins. Given that Suarez is stepping into a competitive ride immediately — one that nearly won the 2016 championship just two months ago — the talented incoming rookie will have an excellent shot at securing his first win.
Look specifically to Dover, Phoenix, Texas, Kentucky, New Hampshire and — *gulp* — Homestead as the tracks most likely to see Suarez land in Victory Lane.