“It’s crazy,” an emotional Suárez said instantly after profitable the race. “It’s been a rough journey in the Cup Series, and these guys believed in me.”
“I have a lot of people to thank in Mexico,” he added. “My family, they never gave up on me. A lot of people did, but they didn’t. I’m just happy we were able to make it work.”
Suárez turned the fifth foreign-born Cup Series winner, following Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia), Earl Ross (Canada) and Mario Andretti (Italy).
As he clambered out of his automotive, Suárez waved a “Win Numero Uno” flag, and he gleefully smashed a piñata within the form of an enormous taco. He then pumped his fist within the path of a gaggle of his “Amigos,” the nickname given to a group of Suárez supporters.
“I’ve been working very hard for this moment,” he said at a post-race news convention. “Not just myself, but my entire team.”
Suárez races a No. 99 Chevy for Trackhouse, a second-year staff co-owned by former Cup Series driver Justin Marks and pop star Pitbull. Teammate Ross Chastain completed seventh Sunday, and he’s in second place within the season-long standings, 16 factors behind Chase Elliott.
Coming in a comparatively distant second Sunday, 3.849 seconds again, was RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who was on the lookout for his second Cup Series victory and first since 2016.
“Hurts to be that close, but congratulations to Suárez,” said the 29-year-old Buescher, who gained the Xfinity Series in 2015. “We were trying, trying to get him. Ran out of steam there.”
Kyle Larson, the defending champion within the Cup Series and at Sonoma, began on the pole and gained the first stage race however completed fifteenth after his proper entrance wheel got here off heading right into a flip. The infraction might price Larson his crew chief and two pit crew members for 4 races, per NASCAR guidelines.
Michael McDowell got here in third, Kevin Harvick was fourth, and in fifth place was Austin Cindric, who gained the season-opening Daytona 500. The end result at Sonoma gave the 23-year-old Cindric his greatest displaying in 15 races since then, however it was his sixth top-12 end in that span.
For Suárez, it was a day to enjoy what he was lastly in a position to accomplish.
“I come from a very humble family, and every step of my life has cost me a lot,” he stated. “I knew that it’s important to remember that if I was able to come all the way here, I wasn’t going to give up here. My confidence was high, but obviously knowing that you haven’t won yet, there’s a little bit of doubt. But I knew that I was fast. I knew that I could race with them, with the guys that are winning. … Those tough moments, those ups and downs are what makes this moment so special.”
A North Carolina resident, Suárez recalled harder occasions greater than a decade in the past, when his first stint within the United States as an aspiring driver concerned instructing himself English with the assistance of TV cartoons whereas dealing with chilly climate in Buffalo.
“You know, it’s been quite a journey,” he stated, “and that’s why I feel like my story is very similar to many, many Mexicans, Latinos that are coming to this country trying to find a goal, trying to find their dream.
“And if I was able to make it happen, everyone out there can make it happen.”