Daniel Suarez became the first Mexican to win a NASCAR race and celebrated by punching a taco piñata

• Daniel Suarez picked up his first career win on the Sonoma road course.
• Suarez is one of the most liked drivers, and he celebrated by punching a taco piñata.

Daniel Suarez, one of the most liked drivers in NASCAR, made history on Sunday at the Sonoma road course, becoming the first Mexican to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Immediately after the race, Suarez celebrated by punching a taco piñata he had been given earlier in the season.

Suarez later talked about how emotional it was to pick up his first win in his sixth season.

"Just very thankful being a kid coming from Mexico trying to live the NASCAR dream in the US," Suarez said. "It's been a different journey. Every NASCAR driver has had a tough journey. Everyone has a different journey. But my journey is definitely the most different of everyone else, leaving my family, my country, and just coming to a different culture, different language. Thinking of all those things, it makes today very, very special."

Suarez — known for greeting everybody by yelling, "Amigo!" — won the race in front of several hundred members of his fan club, "Daniel's Amigos."

"All the people wearing red shirts today, those are my people," Suarez said after the race. "Some of them, they have exactly the same journey that I have. Coming from Mexico, not knowing the language, trying to find an opportunity, having goals, just trying to find that dream or trying to make that dream happen. These are my people. I feel extremely lucky to be the one that can represent all of them.

"Hopefully, the success that we have had, that we're having, can fuel them as well to continue to push in whatever they want to do — [whether] that is racing, mechanic, engineering, business, whatever that may be — to continue to fuel them to know that they can do it. They just have to work hard and put on the table what they have to do."