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El campeon! Daniel Suarez becomes NASCAR's 1st foreign champ

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, becoming the first foreign champion in a NASCAR national series.

The 24-year-old Mexican driver won the season finale, besting fellow championship contenders Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Erik Jones on a restart with three laps to go.

Suarez gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first championship of the weekend. Gibbs has two drivers, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, vying for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday.

It was just Suarez's third career victory, but the most important for obvious reasons. El campeon!

Sadler, who gambled by taking two tires on the final pit stop, finished third in the race and second in the standings. The former Cup driver and sentimental favorite remained without a championship at any national level in more than two decades.

Allgaier finished sixth, and Jones ninth. Both got stuck behind leader Cole Whitt on the final restart, and when Whitt spun his tires, they fell way behind Suarez.

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