Clash mission accomplished for Suarez

Mission accomplished for Daniel Suarez.

Before the green flag for the Clash at Daytona International Speedway, the No. 19 radio preached to its driver about learning for next weekend. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie then worked brilliantly with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and brought home an eighth-place finish after getting shuffled out of the top three late in the race.

"It was good," Suarez said of the experience. "These guys are definitely aggressive, and they race hard when they wave the green flag, and I feel like I learned a lot. I feel like it was a very productive race for me, for my team, and hopefully, we can put everything that we learned on the table for next week."

Eligible to run the Clash in place of the retired Carl Edwards, it was Suarez's first taste of Cup Series competition ahead of his official debut in the Daytona 500.

After starting 16th, Suarez spent the 75-lap event drafting with his teammates, which included pacing restarts to allow each driver to fall in line and learning how the air works while sitting second to Denny Hamlin through most of the second half of the event.

Suarez said he felt the JGR drafting plan worked perfectly, as all four drivers sat inside the top five with five laps to go. It wasn't until the Team Penske cars of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano began working together that an opportunity at victory disappeared.

Still, Suarez was able to pad his notebook for the rest of Speedweeks with information such as how the car begins to handle when tires start to fall off. In the draft, Suarez also put himself in different positions to see what moves he would be able to make.

While Cup racing might be new to Suarez, he does have familiar in one area. Chris "Crazy" Osborne will continue to serve as his spotter after the two worked together last year in the Xfinity Series. However, it came about through some shuffling since Osborne was Matt Kenseth's spotter on the Cup side.

Hearing Osborne in his ear Sunday went a long way in getting off to a good start.

"That was a big thing, definitely a big deal," Suarez said. "I have to thank Matt, who gave me the opportunity to work with (Osborne), I feel like that's a big deal. English isn't my first language, so (Osborne) can understand my English and I can understand his."

After taking a survey of his clean racecar on pit road following the checkered flag, Suarez was given a high-five by his crew chief, Dave Rogers. One race down, many more to go.

"Definitely a good race for me – I learned a lot," Suarez said. "The car's in one piece, and I feel like I got a lot of good information for next weekend. That was the goal, and I think we got to that point."