If Daytona is any indication, there will be no sophomore slump for 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award winner Daniel Suarez and runner-up Darrell Wallace Jr.
Wallace finished sixth in last Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 at the “Birthplace of Speed,” while Suarez placed eighth.
There’s only been one race, but Wallace and Suarez rank second and fourth, respectively, in the XFINITY Series standings entering the Heads Up Georgia 250 on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. on FS1.)
Although Suarez (fifth) and Wallace (seventh) had solid finishes in the final 2015 standings in the series where names are made, both NASCAR Next and NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduates have higher hopes for this season.
“We have to show everybody ‘He has a legitimate shot at winning this (championship),'” Wallace said. “We struggled last year being consistent. We had one or two races where it was back-to-back ok, but then we had a spurt of three races that were bad. We have to minimize those bad races and really put ourselves in a situation where if we win early, we kind of relax and kind of go through a test plan, a game plan, to set us up for the (NASCAR XFINITY Series) Chase.”
Suarez echoed similar sentiments, noting the importance of winning with the Chase format being implemented into the XFINITY Series.
“Our expectations are a little bit higher than last year. We knew that last year was a learning process in many ways – the race tracks, the people, the series. Right now, we know what to expect. We have to go out there, be strong, be competitive and win some races.”
