Evolution

Last June when Daniel Suarez drove around Kyle Busch in the Michigan Xfinity race for his first victory, I realized that I had found my next favorite driver.  I thought I had years before that time would come, but then Carl Edwards shocked the NASCAR world with his last-minute announcement that he was leaving JGR's 19 team.  Since then I have gone through a litany of reactions, ranging from disbelief to concern to shock to grief to anger to reluctant acceptance.  But now that the season has arrived I think I am ready to look ahead and focus on the future.  If your future is going to include Daniel Suarez, I invite you to join me each week in this blog.

Unfortunately his first race weekend of the year was not a good start to his season.  He kicked off the weekend in the 18 Xfinity Toyota but one of the many crash fests took him out of the race even before finishing 30 laps.  Things seemed to be going better on the Cup side of the garage.  Earlier this week he logged laps and got some good experience in the Clash and Duels.

When the Daytona 500 got underway, he had a few problems right off the bat.  Probably due to the inexperience of being a rookie, his first pit stop under green saw him speeding on pit road.  The resulting pass-through penalty left him two laps down and running at the back of the field in 40th place.

Then the wrecks started, but he came through unscathed.  The resulting lucky dogs got him back on the lead lap.  And through attrition he found himself up to 11th place.

Unfortunately that is about the time his luck ran out.  A wreck on lap 142 collected him, sending him to the garage and out of the race for a 29th place finish.

Daniel earned 8 championship points.  Combined with the 1 point he earned in the Clash, his 9 points has him 47 points behind the leader and in 29th place in the drivers' standings.

This might also give me a chance to practice my very meager Spanish skills.  Native speakers are welcome to help me fix my errors.  I will begin small:  ¡Buena suerte este año, Daniel Suárez!