After 47 previous starts, Daniel Suarez finally broke through for his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in Saturday’s Menards 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
Suarez passed teammate Kyle Busch with two laps to go and held on for the final lap to reach victory lane for Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports.
While his win in Saturday’s Menards 250 was certainly emotional, with it being his first career triumph in the Xfinity Series, it also helped slightly increase Daniel Suarez‘s lead in the Xfinity Series point standings, as well.
Suarez now has an 18-point lead over second-ranked Elliott Sadler, a 36-point edge over third-ranked Ty Dillon, a 55-point lead over fourth-ranked Erik Jones and a 64-point difference over fifth-ranked Justin Allgaier.
Here’s the Xfinity Series point standings after Saturday’s race:
With atmospheric temperatures hovering around 90 degrees and on-track temperatures even higher, it was obviously pretty hot during Saturday’s Menards 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
It was even hotter for driver Ty Dillon, who spent most of Saturday’s race without air conditioning. As a result, Dillon went to the MIS infield medical center after the race for a fill-up of IV fluid to replenish some of what he lost in the race.
One good thing: Temperatures are expected to be about 15 degrees lower in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400
Check out Dillon’s post on Instagram, with a couple of followup posts on Twitter:
Daniel Suarez surged to his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, taking the lead from Kyle Busch with two laps left.
Suarez, the series' points leader, recovered from an early race speeding penalty and rallied in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. He led four laps and became the first Mexican-born driver to win in any of NASCAR's three national series. He also became the XFINITY tour's sixth foreign-born winner in his 48th career start.
Busch, a Sprint Cup Series regular, led a race-high 88 of 125 laps in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota but settled for second in the Menard's 250 presented by Valvoline. Paul Menard finished third, Erik Jones fourth and Elliott Sadler fifth.
Suarez was first off pit road during the first caution period, but a speeding penalty knocked him back to 25th place for the Lap 32 restart that followed. He gradually gained ground during the course of the 250-miler, making his most dramatic charge over the long green-flag run to the finish.
Suarez caught and inched ahead of Busch as the two drivers flashed under the white flag for the final lap. The 24-year-old Suarez -- a NASCAR Next product and last season's Sunoco Rookie of the Year -- held on for a .281-second margin of victory at the finish.
Jones started second and led 18 laps on an emotional day for the 20-year-old driver. Jones, a Byron, Michigan native, announced through Twitter during Saturday's pre-race that his father had died Tuesday at age 53 after a bout with cancer.
Before the race, he paid tribute to his father, affixing a decal with the name "Dave" in place of his own above the driver's door of his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota.
Alex Bowman led 11 laps and secured seventh place in just his third XFINITY start of the season in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. He landed his first pole position since 2013 in Saturday's Coors Light Pole Qualifying.
The series' next race -- the American Ethanol E15 250 -- is scheduled June 19 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Iowa Speedway.
Rookie William Byron passed Matt Craftonwith five laps to go and then held off Rico Abreu‘s late challenge before Abreu hit the wall to win Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck race at Texas Motor Speedway.
It’s the second victory of the season for Byron, who drives for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Crafton finished second with Johnny Sauterthird. Abreu hit the wall in each of the final two laps and fell to ninth.
Rookie William Byron moved up two spots to third in the NASCAR Camping World Truck point standings after his win Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway, but Matt Craftonremains the series leader.
Crafton holds an 18-point advantage onTimothy Peters after the season’s seventh race of the year. Byron is next, 23 points behind Crafton.
FORT WORTH — William Byron chased down two-time champion Matt Crafton and then fended off fellow charging rookie Rico Abreu to win the Rattlesnake 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Bryon was able to cruise the final two laps after Abreu got into the outside wall twice after reaching Byron’s bumper.
Byron has now won twice in the last four Camping World Truck Series races after his victory at Kansas Speedway last month.
The rookie’s win ended a two-race win streak for Crafton, who had also won the last two June races at TMS.
HOW WILLIAM BYRON WON: After Matt Crafton’s tires wore down, Byron passed him with five laps to go and fended off a charging Rico Abreu to take his second Truck win.
WHO HAD A GOOD NIGHT: Matt Crafton blew a tire and hit the Turn 3 wall while leading on Lap 11. Crafton then charged back from 25th in 20 laps to lead a race-high 133 laps before finishing second … Johnny Sauter started from his first pole in three years and led nine laps before finishing third, his fourth top-five finish of the season … Ben Kennedy finish fourth after starting 15th for his first top-five result of the season …Tyler Reddick brought out the second caution on Lap 52 after he lost a rear tire and spun exiting Turn 4. Reddick battled back to finish fifth … German Quiroga started second in his first Truck race since 2014 and finished eighth for his 18th top 10 of his career.
WHO HAD A BAD NIGHT: Rookie Christopher Bell pulled up lame on the first lap after a bad shift caused engine problems. Bell went to the garage where he finished last. …Spencer Gallagher lost a tire just passed Lap 30 and had to pit. He finished 27th, 14 laps down … Mike Bliss brought out a caution with 72 laps to go when he smacked the wall out of Turn 4. Bliss finished 28th … John Wes Townley spun in Turn 3 with 48 laps to go, shredding his right-side tires. Townley finished 17th, a lap down.
NOTABLE: William Byronis now the second-youngest driver to win at Texas Motor Speedway behind Chase Elliott …Matt Crafton holds an 18-point lead over Timothy Peters in the season standings
NEXT: Speediatrics 200 at Iowa Speedway on June 18 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
