LOS ANGELES — Daniel Suárez failed to qualify for the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum but that didn’t keep him out of victory lane.
Suarez returned to his roots and won the King Taco La Batalla en El Coliseo for the NASCAR Mexico Series on the quarter-mile race track.
“I have a bittersweet taste about what happened to me in the Cup Series, but I am happy to have crossed the finish line first in this race,” Suárez said. “I pushed at the end and with about 20 laps left I knew that if I didn’t make any mistakes, I was going to take the victory.”
Due to torrential weather forecasted for LA on Sunday, the race was moved from Sunday to Saturday night, where Suárez beat out Santiago Tovar to the finish line in the 150-lapper.
Starting third, Suárez won the race by nailing the final restart with seven laps to go.
Alex de Alba, Rogelio López and Jake Cosío rounded out the top-five finishers. Eloy López, Xavi Razo, Andrés Peréz, Max Gutiérrez and Enrique Baca completed the top 10.