Since this past Sunday was an off weekend for the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series, we have had some time to reflect and think about the impact and significance of Daniel Suarez’s historic win at Sonoma Raceway, two weeks ago.
Suarez is the 2016 Xfinity Series Champion that he won in his time at Joe Gibbs Racing, in the #19 Toyota Camry. He was called up to the Cup Series in early 2017 after former Cup Series driver of the #19, Carl Edwards, made his unexpected retirement from the Cup Series. Suarez had very big shoes to fill, especially driving for the top organization at the time in the Cup Series.
The Rookie Years:
Once his Cup Series career began, Suarez had a bunch of hype and talk around him. People were expecting him to win right out of the gate. He was in top equipment at the time, but it was quite the opposite for Suarez in his rookie season. Suarez finished the 2017 season with only 1 Top-5 finish and 12 Top-10 finishes with an average finish of 16.2. Suarez had a lot of speculation swirling around him for the 2018 season. Media would start wondering if he should even be in Joe Gibbs’s equipment at all. Unfortunately, the media may have had a point, most of Suarez’s stats from 2018 were lower than his 2017 stats. According to racing reference, Suarez scored 3 Top 5 finishes, 9 Top 10 Finishes, and an average finish of 18.5.
A Chance for opportunity:
Unfortunately for Suarez, he would lose his ride for the 2019 season to Martin Truex Jr. Suarez would be without a seat for the 2019 season. But early in January of 2019, there would be a glimpse of hope for Suarez. Suarez would find a ride with Stewart-Hass Racing in the #41 Ford Mustang. This would be a great opportunity to show the racing world that Suarez has the talent to win. Suarez, unfortunately, didn’t break through to victory lane. According to racing reference, he had 4 Top-5 finishes, 11 Top-10 Finishes, and an average finish of 16.4. Some would argue that this was Suarez’s best season up to this point. But the bad luck snake would, unfortunately, bite him once again. Suarez would lose the #41 ride to the young upstart, Cole Custer. Suarez unfortunately didn’t have the comfort of knowing what his 2020 season would hold for him.
A Step Backwards:
Suarez would get a new opportunity with the Gaunt Brothers Racing in the #96 Toyota Camry for 2020. It would, unfortunately, be a rough start for the 2020 season for Suarez right out of the gate. Suarez would fail to qualify for the ultimate race in NASCAR, the Daytona 500. This would unfortunately be the tone for Suarez’s 2020 season. According to racing reference, Suarez would have no Top-5 finishes, no Top-10 finishes as well, and would have an average finish of 26.6. In late September, Gaunt brothers racing would announce that they and Suarez would be parting ways at the end of the season. But a glimmer of hope was right around the corner for Suarez.
Two Steps Forward:
On August 14th, 2020, former Xfinity series driver, Justin Marks, would make an announcement that would shock the NASCAR world to its core. Marks would announce the formation of a brand new race team in the Cup series, Trackhouse Racing. The team didn’t have a driver at the time. But on October 7th, 2020 Marks announced that Daniel Suarez would drive the #99 Chevy Camaro for Trackhouse in 2021. This would be the break that Suarez has been waiting on his entire career.
On January 15th, 2021, award-winning singer, Pitbull, announced that he would have part ownership of the team. As usual with Suarez, there would be a lot of speculation around him before the season even started. Trackhouse racing’s debut season with Suarez was unfortunately underwhelming. According to racing reference, Suarez only had one top-five finish in four top-ten finishes on the season with an average finish of 20.1.
In late June of 2021, Marks had announced that he had purchased the NASCAR operations of Chip Ganassi Racing, along with two charters for the #1 car and the #42 car. Marks would later announce in August that Ross Chastain would drive the #1 Chevy Camaro for Trackhouse Racing as the second car in operation for the team. As the 2022 season rolls around, there were many questions surrounding Trackhouse racing, more specifically around Suarez and his ability to win in a stock car.
The Breakthrough:
Suarez would come very close to breaking into Victory Lane for the first time at Fontana CA, After leading with two laps to go, Suarez would be passed by Kyle Larson in the #5 Chevy Camaro for the lead and the eventual win. Suarez would go on to finish 4th in his first top-five finish of the season. A few months later, Chastain would find victory lane for the first time at the road course in Austin TX at Circuit of the Americas. The pressure was on for Suarez to break into Victory Lane for his first win. There would be no excuse for Suarez not to win if he didn’t win by the end of this season. Throughout the following months of the season, it was evident that Suarez was getting close to breaking into Victory Lane but it was just a question of when.
The cup series would roll into Sonoma CA for their second road course race of the season, in Mid June. Larson would start from pole but bad luck would strike the #5 team once again on the season. The right front wheel would fall off the car after a scheduled green-flag pit stop in the last stage. This was the final nail in the coffin for Larson’s chance at winning on the day. This eventually led to Suarez getting the lead. Suarez would lead the final 26 laps en route to his first career NASCAR cup series win. Daniel Suarez is the 5th national-born driver in history to win in the NASCAR cup series. Suarez is also the first Mexican-born driver to win in NASCAR Cup Series history.
Mass Media Attention:
So how important is Daniel Suarez’s win last Sunday at Sonoma? This win made national headlines on ABC News, NBC News, and ESPN and got the attention of other motorsports drivers specifically Red Bull Racing Formula One driver, Sergio Perez, who is also of Spanish descent. Suarez’s win gave NASCAR some extra publicity that they had been needing for years. This win by Suarez proved that NASCAR can still make national headlines while at the same time improving viewership for the races.
Featured Articles
Featured Writers
