Dale Earnhardt Jr. beamed with pride after Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Mexico City. His team, JR Motorsports, won the race with fill-in driver and Cup Series regular Daniel Suárez.
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The Mexican’s weekend began with a heavy crash car during qualifying. The JR Motorsports crew scrambled and prepared a backup car, but Suárez was forced to start at the tail end of the field in 39th place. But by the checkered flag, he was leading and held off Taylor Gray by 0.598 seconds to record an emotional win.
The victory made headlines in his native Mexico, where Suárez, who grew up in Monterrey, is a national sports hero and icon. Junior, JR Motorsports, and Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks put their efforts together to not only put Suárez in the JR Motorsports car but also to see him reach Victory Lane.
“Hey, we put good cars on the track,” Junior good-naturedly bragged in a post-race media session. “I think any one of those Trackhouse guys could get in those cars and go to Victory Lane.”
Junior then praised the Trackhouse racing team for a “great job” of hiring “top-notch drivers”.
“Either way, I think we’d still be sitting here [in the winner’s media session] today because I told Justin (Trackhouse owner Justin Marks), ‘Man, we’ve worked with all your guys and they’re just amazing’,” said Dale Jr.
“He’s done such a great job if you think about their talent in the Cup Series plus, [Connor] Zilisch. They do a really good job of hiring really top-notch drivers,” he added.
Junior has known Suárez since his early days in NASCAR, first in Trucks, then Xfinity, and finally, the Cup Series.
“I’ve been pretty good friends with Daniel over the years, as well as [Trackhouse teammate Ross] Chastain. So it’s kind of fun to put them in good race cars and have them go out and run well and have fun doing what they do,” Junior said.
“There’s not a lot of pressure on them usually — except for maybe this weekend — to run in the Xfinity Series, so it’s fun to do that with them and put a good car underneath them,” he elaborated.
However, while there was little pressure on Suárez behind the wheel, there were tons of pressure on Junior and his team.
A backup car, a comeback, and Victory Lane
The JR Motorsports team had to pull out a backup car after Suárez crashed during qualifying, basically having to rebuild the car from scratch. Suárez then worked his way through the pack to reach Victory Lane.
“There’s a lot of pressure as an owner to make sure you supply them with a winning vehicle, and we feel like we can do that,” Junior acknowledged.
Dale Jr. knew there was a lot of attention on Suárez — and JR Motorsports indirectly — to do well not only in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, but also Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race. If Suárez can double-up, it might lead to a national holiday in Mexico on Monday.
“I knew coming here with Daniel was going to be a great experience just because of the reception that he would have, the attention around him driving. Daniel drove such a smart race, made minimal mistakes, put himself in position to win, and drove a smart few laps at the end,” Junior said.
“I felt great about the job the team did. I saw all of the mechanics as they were coming to the car at the podium, and I told them, ‘You’ll never forget days like this,’ where you have trouble,” he added, praising the crew.
Junior reiterated the daunting challenge that they had overcome to see their driver on Victory Lane.
“You have to get a backup out, build the car right there, right before the race begins, and your driver goes out there and wins the race. These are the moments that you always remember,” said Junior.
“I will say that the experience down on the racetrack and going through the whole post-win process — photos, the podium — is unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced at another race,” he added.
The podium ceremony was also something new for the NASCAR fraternity.
“We don’t traditionally do podiums, and we don’t traditionally have someone as beloved as Daniel win in Mexico or any foreign country, so [it’s a] pretty unique set of circumstances really. That made this very special and memorable,” said Dale Jr.
Junior added that the weekend in Mexico exceeded their usual race experiences. He hoped NASCAR would get to return, as it had been a lot of fun.
