Drought over: Daniel Suárez triumphs in 195th NASCAR start

Daniel Suárez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday, holding off Chris Buescher for a historic victory at Sonoma Raceway.

Suárez, a 30-year-old native of Monterrey, finally won in the 195th career start of a Cup Series career that began in 2017.

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He also drove his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the third Cup Series victory of the season for this rising 2-year-old team co-owned by former driver Justin Marks and music star Pitbull.

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Suárez got past Buescher and took charge early in the final stage on this hilly road course in Northern California wine country, and he persevered through a pit stop and a caution to emerge in front with 23 laps to go.

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Buescher pushed him aggressively, but Suárez made no significant mistakes while rolling to victory.

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Suárez’s team partied wildly when it was over, even pulling out a celebratory piñata shaped like a taco.

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The piñata was requested by Suárez for whenever he got his first win and clinched a spot in the playoffs — and he celebrated by punching a hole through it with his fist.

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Sonoma Raceway restored the 1.99-mile Chute track layout for this race after using the longer Carousel configuration in the previous two editions in 2019 and 2021.

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The shorter track didn’t appear to lead to more contact in the racing, and not much happened in the first two stages, which were won by Larson and Joey Logano.

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