Jones quickly ran down Suarez from a second back, but tagged the wall in his own right with 15 laps to go and fell back before mounting another furious charge.
Just before Jones could make another move on Suarez for the lead, however, the night’s seventh and final caution came out with 10 laps remaining when Ray Black Jr. spun down the frontstretch, forcing all of the leaders back to pit road for another pit stop and setting up a chain of events that ultimately sealed the championship outcome.
Suarez and Allgaier took four fresh tires, Jones bolted on a set of six-lap scuffs and Sadler assumed the lead among the title contenders with a two-tire gamble. However, Cole Whitt stayed out on 30-lap older tires to assume the lead and chose the outside lane for the last restart of the evening.
Whitt’s decision placed Sadler, on two tires, to the inside lane with Suarez behind him in third, while Jones sat behind Whitt in fourth and Allgaier was sixth behind Jones.
When the green flag finally flew with three laps left, the bottom lane pounced.
As Whitt spun the tires and Jones was bottlenecked behind him, Sadler raced towards turn one with Suarez sucking up to his right-rear quarter panel before charging to the top lane of the race track.
By the time the duo exited turn two, Suarez was out in front and on his way to victory, making the 24-year-old native of Monterrey, Mexico the first Latin-American champion in the history of NASCAR’s three national touring series.
Suarez was speechless as he climbed from his car in celebration, becoming the first-ever Drive for Diversity program graduate to win a NASCAR XFINITY Series title.
“I don’t think I can speak English right now,” Suarez said. “Oh man. My family is what got me here. Ever since I was 11 years old, they gave me the right equipment to get better and to one day get to this point.”
The new XFINITY champion gave the credit to his family for getting him to the pinnacle of America’s second-highest stock car series.
“I’m very proud of this team and everyone who has helped me get to this point. To all my sponsors, my friends, everyone in Mexico … thank you. I really can’t believe it. When I was 18 years old and we were winning Mexico races, my dad gave me the ticket to go to the U.S. and to start a new life. Thanks to him, I was able to do it and to stand here tonight.”
The effort also sealed the Owner’s Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, the fifth of their career and first since 2012, breaking a three-year streak by the No. 22 Team Penske Ford crew.
Ty Dillon snuck through to finish second in the race, followed by Sadler, who ends the year second in points for the third time in the last six years.
Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon completed the top five finishers.
Justin Allgaier, who finished sixth, was third in points and Jones ended up worst of the Championship 4 after a ninth-place result.
The 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series season kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 25 with the traditional 300-mile season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
