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XFINITY: Daniel Suarez Taking Provisional After Qualifying Wreck

Originally posted on Racing America on SI
By Joseph Srigley | Last updated Jun 14, 2025 4:12 PM ET

It’s a monumental weekend for the NASCAR industry as a whole, as the NASCAR Cup Series makes its first trip outside of the United States for a points-paying event since 1958. However, the weekend might be even more important for one driver in particular.

Daniel Suarez is the only Mexican-born driver competing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, and has NASCAR competes at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this weekend in Mexico City, the Trackhouse Racing driver is feeling the warm embrace of his hometown crowd.

While the preparation for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Viva Mexico 250 is going very well for Suarez, with his No. 99 Telcel Chevrolet being ranked inside the top 15 in every on-track session from the 2.42-mile road course, things aren’t going as well in the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage.

After showing speed throughout practice on Saturday, Suarez was on-pace to put together a solid qualifying lap when the No. 9 Quaker State Chevrolet went into the barriers in Turn 11. The front-end of the JR Motorsports Chevrolet was heavily damaged from the impact.

Big trouble for @Daniel_SuarezG during qualifying in Mexico City. #XfinitySeries pic.twitter.com/xp1EIS0ZtZ
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) June 14, 2025

“I don’t want to blame anyone, probably I just trusted the car a little bit too much,” said Suarez. “In practice, I was having a long pedal on my brakes we weren’t really sure if we were going to fix it and start in the back or just try to go qualifying, and just a little inconsistent with my brake pedal, I tried to brake like normal but the car just the pedal kept going down.”

JR Motorsports rushed to unload the backup car for the No. 9 Chevrolet, with crew chief Corey Shea leading the effort to get the car that Suarez will drive race ready. However, there’s an interesting wrinkle to all of this.

On a typical NASCAR Xfinity Series race weekend, Suarez and JR Motorsports would not be competing in the event. With the No. 9 being the teams fifth, part-time entry, the owner points situation for Suarez was not favorable.

However, with NASCAR making the decision to introduce the ‘International Provisional’ for this NASCAR Xfinity Series event only, Suarez and co. will get the opportunity to be the 39th entry in Saturday’s The Chilango 150.

By taking this provisional, JR Motorsports will not earn any owner points, playoff points, or prize money for competing in Saturday’s event, even if the Monterrey, Mexico-native should drive through the pack to win the race.

“Overall, I’m just very sorry for everyone at JR Motorsports, I probably just trusted it too much knowing that the brakes were some reason not 100%, but my bad, hopefully we can build another fast car. I think the car was pretty good, just having an issue with the brakes, but overall the car was pretty strong.”

The CW will have coverage of the first NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguiez since 2008, with the telecast beginning at 4:30 PM ET. Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will have radio coverage of the event.