Daniel Suarez joined RAB Racing with Brack Maggard for his second start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.
The 22-year-old posted times fast enough for the 19th position in Friday’s practice session. Final Nationwide Series practice was cancelled due to inclement weather. Suarez found even more speed on Saturday, transferring through to round two of knockout qualifying and earning the 18th-place starting position for the Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 300.
After the green flag waved, Suarez began to advance positons in his No. 29 ARRIS Toyota Camry. He had moved into the top 10 by the time the caution flag flew for a competition caution on Lap 25. Unfortunately, he got caught up in traffic on pit road causing him to emerge in 24th-place.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for the rookie to move forward and he completed the 200-lap event in the 15th positon, the highest finish ever for Suarez in the Nationwide Series.
“It was a good race,” said Suarez. “The first day was difficult because of the weather. Second practice was supposed to be longer than the first and we wanted to get as much seat time as possible. But at the end of the day, every team had the same amount of practice time so we just went straight into qualifying. I believe that we learned a lot throughout the race. The first pit stop was tough because we got caught up in a lot of traffic. But we ran the majority of the day in the top 20 and even in the top 10 and I am looking forward to giving the Nationwide Series another shot utilizing what I learned this weekend with RAB Racing.”
The NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to Kentucky Speedway next weekend for their second of two trips of the 2014 season. The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 can be seen on Saturday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. EDT on ESPNews. The event can also be heard on SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel 90 and on PRN Radio.
