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After running parts of four seasons in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (both East and West) over the past four years along with a very successful four-year, 10-win stretch in the NASCAR Mexico Series, Suarez’s transition to the national series level hasn’t been quite as smooth a ride as he had hoped. The rookie driver has finished outside the top 10 more often than inside in his first 13 races spread out across the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series.
We’ve seen the speed from the Monterrey native — he’s started ninth or better the past four XFINITY Series races – but Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, however, we saw the results. While Joey Logano was busy putting together a perfect driver rating and leading every lap, Suarez was hanging in there less than a second off his pace while staving off a hungry field behind his No. 18 Toyota Camry.
Suarez’s second-place finish was not only his personal best in a NASCAR national series event, it tied German Quiroga’s NASCAR national series-best for a Mexican-born driver. Quiroga also finished runner-up in the Camping World Truck Series at Gateway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last season.
But Saturday was about more than just a second-place finish. It’s the start of Suarez putting his name alongside the Bueschers, the Joneses, the Dillons and Elliotts at the top of the XFINITY Series, and eventually, the Sprint Cup Series.
As a rookie, there are going to be bumps in the road and — like his admittedly non-existent handle of the English language when he moved to the United States just three years ago — it’s just going to take some time, and he knows that.
"That’s the most important thing, to not give up and keep fighting," Suarez said. "All day long we had a good car. We improved the car at every single stop and that’s the most important thing is to learn, to improve. To be honest, my team at Joe Gibbs Racing with the ARRIS Toyota, everyone is doing an amazing job. They are having a lot of patience with me as a rookie and it’s been a good day. I’m very happy."
Next week presents another hurdle for the young driver, as his history at Richmond International Raceway suggests he’ll struggle in just his second XFINITY trip to the 3/4-mile, D-shaped oval.
The Virginia track was one of his two starts in the series last season, yielding a 19th-place finish, and the track was his weakest during his time in the Pro Series East, averaging a finish of 25.5 in four races.
"We still have a lot of work to do, but definitely all that hard work and work at the shop checking notes and videos — Kyle Busch has been helping me a lot. I think everything that we’ve been doing since the end of 2014 is paying off slowly. I’m super happy with the performance of today. We were still a little bit off, but as a rookie I try hard and I believe we’re on the right track."
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Considering Busch’s four Sprint Cup wins at Richmond are second only to his five at Bristol (along with another five in the XFINITY Series), it’s safe to say Suarez will lean on his go-to mentor again this week in preparation for Friday’s appropriately-named ToyotaCare 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).
But what sort of advice, exactly, has "Rowdy" been passing along?
"A little bit of everything. We’ve been talking a lot since I started racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), but since Texas I started talking a little bit more with him about the race track and what’s going on and what to do. A little bit of everything for advice from him. It’s been a huge change since Texas. Maybe Texas we didn’t have the result, but we showed we had the speed.
"I believe everything that we’ve been building the last few weeks is getting better and better."
And hey, as far as Saturday goes, he would’ve even taken a top-10. The near-victory was just gravy on top of an already stellar afternoon.
"To be honest, (I would’ve been happy) with a top-10," Suarez said. "This second-place is unbelievable. I really feel super happy for my team. I believe that we are building on that confidence, we are building on that learning. I just can’t explain with words what I feel right now, but I am very happy."
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