CONCORD, N.C. _ Daniel Suarez couldn't tell you exactly why Charlotte Motor Speedway has been so good to him. But he sure isn't complaining about it.
Suarez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, got an invitation from Joe Gibbs to take over the No. 19 Toyota when Carl Edwards retired unexpectedly in 2017.
Four months later, Suarez was hitting the track for NASCAR's longest race, for the first time in his career. He joked beforehand that he might need a sandwich during one of his pit stops. Whatever hunger he might have had didn't affect him, though _ in his Coca-Cola 600 debut, Suarez finished 11th.
Last weekend, Suarez just missed a victory in the NASCAR All-Star Race over Kevin Harvick. Although it wasn't a points race, the second-place finish was the best of Suarez's Cup career.
And after a strong performance in Thursday night's qualifying, Suarez will start 10th on Sunday in the second 600 of his career. That's a 10-spot improvement from last year, and another bullet point for Suarez's Charlotte resume.
"You know, Charlotte has been a good place for me," Suarez said with a smile. "I don't know, it's just one of those places that, for whatever reason, you feel comfortable and you get good results. And it seems like you build from that."
A victory on Sunday would be the first in Suarez's brief NASCAR Cup Series career. The 26-year-old has already set a few milestones along the way. In 2016, at the Xfinity Series race in Michigan, he became the first Mexican-born driver to win a race in a NASCAR national series.
