Daniel Suarez wins NASCAR Xfinity Series in front of home fans in Mexico City
MEXICO CITY — For Daniel Suarez, los sueños se hacen realidad.
His dreams came true on Saturday in Mexico City, with the Mexico native scoring a stirring victory in front of his home fans upon NASCAR's first race south of the border since 2008.
DANIEL SUÁREZ WINS IN MEXICO CITY! 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/UgfLoKVgyw
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) June 14, 2025
Suarez crashed hard in practice earlier Saturday at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and was forced into a backup car with his JR Motorsports entry, with the team taking more than three hours to rebuild the car. The bare-looking backup only arrived at the grid 30 minutes before the race.
Then Suarez electrified the crowd by becoming the first driver in any series in NASCAR history to go from last to first in a road course race (according to historian Seth Eggert). He held off Taylor Gray on a late restart with four laps to go after Gray forced him off the track and into the grass; NASCAR did not penalize Suarez for cutting the course due to the contact from Gray.
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'It's very special to be here in front of my people,' he said.
Suarez has dreamed of bringing NASCAR back to Mexico ever since he entered the national series ranks, moving to the United States without speaking English. He has had a rollercoaster career, winning the Xfinity Series championship and making it to the Cup Series, but twice losing his ride.
He landed at Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series, where he has won two Cup races — and hopes to do so again Sunday, when NASCAR will hold its first international points race for the Cup Series since 1958.
However, as part of NASCAR's trip to Mexico, Suarez also entered the Xfinity Series race (NASCAR's equivalent of Triple-A baseball). The day couldn't have gone worse at the beginning, as Suarez overcooked his entry speed into the famous stadium section and smashed his car into the safety barriers, destroying the front end.
That seemingly left him out of contention, as no one had previously accomplished a worst-to-first on a non-oval in NASCAR history. Except for Suarez, who somehow pulled it off in a storybook manner.
As the Mexican fans cheered over the noise of the engines, Suarez celebrated with a long burnout and then climbed from his car to salute the crowd, pumping his fist, pounding his chest and showing a thank-you gesture to his supporters.
Suarez grabbed a Mexican flag to celebrate, then stood atop the top step of NASCAR's victory podium — in the style of Formula One — as Mexico's national anthem played.
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