The best year of Daniel Suarez’s life started in February when he won the NASCAR Mexico race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an event made to highlight Suarez as the main attraction.
Later that month, Suarez experienced the closest finish in NASCAR history—a photo-finish victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway that secured his spot in the playoffs after being absent for a year.
In the six months since, Suarez became a U.S. citizen, married Julia Piquet, built a house, and was honored in Mexico City when NASCAR announced it would race there next year for the first time in the modern Cup Series era.
Now, he returns to Atlanta where the 10-race playoffs begin, with Suarez back in the championship chase after missing it last year. His Atlanta win in February was just his second Cup career victory, and he beat champion Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-way photo finish by just .003 seconds.
The finish was so incredible that Blaney isn’t even upset about losing.
“I didn’t feel upset about it. It was pretty wild and I kind of put in my head like, ‘I’ve won them by that much, too,’” Blaney said. “That I lost one by half a foot, I can’t really be mad about it. That was a great finish. A spectacular finish. Like, the only time I wasn’t upset about running second, at all.”
So, Suarez starts the playoffs on Sunday ranked 11th in the 16-driver field. The first of three rounds continues until later this month at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the road course in Watkins Glen, New York, in between. Four drivers will be eliminated at the end of each round.
Yes, this has been the best year of Suarez’s personal life. Now he aims to make it the best year of his professional life as well. He’s the only Trackhouse Racing driver in the playoffs because his teammate Ross Chastain did not qualify.
