MEXICO CITY — With his home country fans cheering, Daniel Suarez said he was “living a dream” as he went from last in a backup car to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The crowd roared when Suarez took the lead with 19 laps to go after Ty Gibbs and Connor Zilisch crashed racing for the lead and triggering a 13-car crash.
“In more than 20 years of my career, I have never experienced what I experienced today,” Suarez said. “When I took the lead, I was able to hear the people like that they were riding right here (with him). Not just in the stadium. The stadium was huge but also in corners one and two and three. It was unbelievable. I got goose bumps and I felt so blessed.”
The crowd in the stadium section of the 2.42-mile course cheered every time he drove his black No. 9 for JR Motorsports — it was supposed to be a green No. 9 but he wrecked that car in qualifying earlier in the day — by them in the lead.
“There were people jumping on the fence for Daniel,” runner-up Taylor Gray said of the atmosphere. “It was wild. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
But Suarez had to refocus for the final laps.
“I had to really talk to myself and say, ‘Hey, focus, don’t get distracted because you saw (the) people, Mexican flags everywhere, Daniel’s Amigos everywhere … people with signs ‘Vamos Suarez (Let’s go Suarez). I really had to work on myself not to get distracted.”
When Suarez crossed the finish line, the fans erupted.
It was his fourth career series win. He started last in the 39-car field, the deepest starting position for a road course winner in the Xfinity Series.
Behind Suarez and Gray were Austin Hill in third, Christian Eckes and Zilisch.
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