WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Daniel Suarez enjoyed his first career top-5 finish when he placed third Sunday at Watkins Glen International, and he has good reason to think he has more top-5 finishes left in him in 2017.
The Joe Gibbs Racing rookie looks forward to the fact that 11 of the remaining 14 races will be run at tracks he already has competed at in 2017.
Knowing how the NASCAR Cup Series car should feel on those tracks should help Suarez achieve the setup he wants earlier in the race weekend. He thinks he should build on his first 22 races at NASCAR’s top level, where he sits 15th in the standings thanks to four consecutive top-10 finishes.
“It's been a fast couple few years in my career,” Suarez said. “I’m just very happy to be here. I'm enjoying every single weekend that we are racing.
“I feel like it's something very, very cool to race every weekend with the best drivers in the world. And to be one of them, to slowly become one of them, I think is something very cool.”
At Watkins Glen, Suarez achieved another first-time accomplishment. He earned a stage victory – NASCAR races are divided into three “stages,” and drivers earn points by finishing in the top-10. It was only the third time he had even earned stage points, showing that he often is racing outside the top-10 in the first half of the race.
He held off eventual race winner Martin Truex Jr. for that stage win.
“It's a big deal for them to win a stage,” Truex said. “Small victories, right? It's just another step in their progression, and he looked really good out there today.
“He did a really good job, and he had a little bit older tires but definitely looked smooth out there and looked like he was having a good time, so it was cool.”
The 25-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico, likely would need to win a race in the next four races to be eligible for the series title as NASCAR runs its final 10 races with all competitors but only 16 drivers – those who have wins this year and then any remaining spots filled by the best in points – competing for the series championship. Although he is 15th in the standings, he is sixth among the drivers who haven’t qualified with a win, and at most, three winless drivers will be eligible.
Suarez wasn’t thinking playoffs all that much going into the season. Although he knows it is a long shot top make the playoffs, Suarez won’t count himself out.
“In the beginning of the year, we were not [as competitive],” Suarez said. “I wasn't the same driver, either, and now I feel like we are moving in the right direction. We have speed pretty much every weekend now where we are running in the top-10.
“I don't think it's a surprise anymore to run in the top-10. We just have to keep it up. We have to keep ourselves calm, and hopefully we can catch a break in the next few weeks, month or so, to try to make it in the playoffs.”
Making the playoffs would be surreal for a driver who didn’t even know he would race at NASCAR’s top level until December, when Carl Edwards made the surprising decision to retire.
“Our plan was to start the season steady, learn, because every day it was a big step,” Suarez said. “I've been racing in the national series just for two years ... and I knew that it was a big step.
“I have a great group of guys on my side. They've been teaching me and coaching me with everything that we are doing, and I feel like honestly we are in a good spot, in a good direction, and we just have to keep moving in the same direction. Hopefully, we can close the end of the year even stronger.”