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Thumb feeling better, Daniel Suarez is ready to add to memories at Richmond

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 - Practice

BRISTOL, TN - APRIL 14: Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 ARRIS Toyota, talks with Kasey Kahne, driver of the #95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet, during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 14, 2018 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

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Daniel Suarez admits he might have been the only person who appreciated the weather delays Sunday and Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway as he recovered from a thumb injury suffered the week before in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway.

Suarez suffered an avulsion fracture in his left thumb in that crash. He told “The Morning Drive” on Wednesday that it will take six to eight weeks for the injury to heal.

“The thumb actually is doing well,’’ Suarez said on the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show. “The rest of my hand, my fingers, was pretty tired after the race. The rest of the hand had to do the entire work. It’s hard to believe how much you use your thumb, but you don’t think about it until you don’t have it. It was a tough race for sure. I’m glad it’s over.

“I knew that if we could make it through Bristol we would be fine the rest of the month and a half that I will have to wear this cast.’’

As for how hard racing at Bristol with the injury was, Suarez, who finished 11th, said:

“I think I was the only driver on the race track that was kind of happy that we were having the stops for rain because I was having some breaks for my hand. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it 100 percent if I had all 500 laps straight. I had some extra rest, some extra breaks on my hand.’’

Suarez’s best finish of the season is an eighth-place result at Phoenix. The series heads to Richmond Raceway this week and that is a track with many good memories for him. He finished seventh at Richmond last fall and 12th in this event a year ago. Richmond also is where Suarez made his Xfinity debut in April 2014. He started 12th and finished 19th.

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