Daniel Suarez celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway. [Credit: Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images]
By Joe Jennings
Dover, Del. – Daniel Suarez dominated the rain-delayed Xfinity Series at the Dover International Speedway, winning the Drive Sober 200 by a comfortable 5.6 seconds. The young Mexican driver won for the second time in 63 Xfinity Series races and with this victory, he advances to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Chase.
Scheduled to be run on Saturday, all-day rain forced postponement until Sunday morning, making Sunday a double-header of racing for the seventh time in NASCAR history,
Leading 123 laps, Suarez drove the Interstate Batteries Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.
Said the victor, “I’m very proud of this team – the 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry. They did a really good job today and the guys just brought an amazing car. We had a ton of speed. This is one of those races that you would feel bad to lose the race. ARRIS, Juniper, Toyota – everyone that supports this program together, it’s pretty unbelievable to win.”
Regarding the pass for the lead, Suarez commented, “He (Justin Allgaier) was racing aggressive because clean air was everything. He got me right there on the restart and I was a little faster than him and I knew if I was close to his rear bumper that I was going to make him loose. I don’t think I ever touched him, but I just wanted to make him loose to be able to complete the pass.
“I want to apologize to the 42 (Justin Marks), it wasn’t my intention to wreck him that way. I felt like I had the inside line and he went to the bottom and I apologize for that.”
Ty Dillon stormed from the back of the starting field to garner second place in a RCR Chevrolet.
Justin Allgaier brought his Chevrolet home third.
Subbing for Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney finished a strong fourth after starting in the back.
Alex Bowman took fifth.
Sixth through 10th were Corey LaJoie, Elliott Sadler, JJ Yeley, Brendan Gaughan and Ryan Reed.
Four caution flags slowed the race for 35 laps, including a hard crash by Justin Marks.