Daniel Suarez, on the bubble, likes his chances at Watkins Glen

RELATED: In-depth look at playoff bubble With Watkins Glen International having a history of producing opportunistic victors, Daniel Suarez is not ruling out scoring an upset victory this weekend to launch himself into the NASCAR playoffs. "We are going to need a strong race and a little bit of luck to make that happen," Suarez told NASCAR.com. "I feel like definitely we are getting better and better every single time that we hit the race track and if you ask me which race track do you feel like you can have a (good) shot, I can tell you that maybe the road course can be one of them. "I feel confident going there and I feel like we are going to be competitive." Although he sits 18th in points, Suarez is 20th in the playoff standings because of the reshuffling for the 13 different playoff-eligible winners this season. A win guarantees Suarez's spot in the playoffs, and it's his best avenue into the postseason with five races remaining. RELATED: Monster Energy Series playoff standings Road course racing can be considered one of NASCAR's "wild card" events, where anything can happen. Suarez enjoys the energy around road courses and the challenge they bring, and he believes both the fans and drivers do, too. Road courses also open the door for a surprise winner to emerge. And the Joe Gibbs Racing rookie from the No. 19 team would certainly qualify as a surprise if he were to pull off a victory. The I LOVE NEW YORK 355 at The Glen (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be Suarez's first start at Watkins Glen in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. "I do have a lot (of experience), but it was in go-karts. I raced go-karts pretty much everywhere in the world and that was pretty much all my background," Suarez said. "When people say you came from road courses, I say, 'Yes, but it was in a kart that weighed maybe, I don't know, 5 percent of what the NASCAR car weighs.' So, it’s very, very different. "But overall, I just love racing at road courses, as well as in go-karts. It's something that I still do right now and obviously, every time I get the opportunity to race in NASCAR on the road courses I feel like it's a lot of fun and I try to enjoy it." In June, Suarez finished 16th at Sonoma Raceway in his first road course race as a Monster Energy Series driver. The 2016 XFINITY Series champion also has six road course starts between Road America, Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen with two top-five finishes. It will be his fourth-place finish in the XFINITY Series race a year ago at Watkins Glen that Suarez hopes to draw from for a successful weekend. "Definitely there is more confidence the more times you go to one race track; it's better and better every single time," Suarez said. "(You know) how to hit the curbs, where to be aggressive, where to be smooth, which corners you need to be good to make passes, because as you know, there's a big racetrack right there and in half of those corners you can't pass. In the other half, you need to make sure that your car is good enough to make passes on people. "I feel like Watkins Glen is one of those race tracks I've been racing now for a couple years and I feel confident going there."