Daniel Suarez, Fresh Off A Contract Extension With Trackhouse Racing, Is Ready For His Breakout Season

Daniel Suarez has never felt this way. It’s almost like he’s “married” to Trackhouse Racing.

Yes, he’s married to his team, especially since he just inked a multi-year extension during Speedweeks in Daytona last month. Oh, and he’s actually engaged to his longtime girlfriend Julia Piquet.

“It was the most exciting offseason I’ve had and the most relaxing,” Suarez said during a Nascar 75th anniversary media tour in New York City. “I was able to recharge my batteries ahead of this season. I’m excited. We have a big steak on the table for this year. I’m looking forward to going out there to fight for it.”

Suarez is off to a hot start in his third season with Trackhouse Racing, earning three top 10s through the first four races. With an emphasis on consistency, he believes the No. 99 team can compete for a championship in 2023.

“The Daniel Suarez of last year will not be good enough,” Suarez said. “I have to continue to be better. I have to continue to train myself, my brain, my ability to drive and the way I lead the [No.] 99 team to be better. I have to continue to be a better version of myself every year.

“This is exactly what I dreamed of since the very beginning. I wanted to be part of one organization and help one organization be better. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find that before. But now with Trackhouse, it’s been an amazing experience and we’ve been growing a lot. We’re babies – we’re only getting started – and we’re heading in the right direction.”

Last year, Suarez earned his first career Nascar Cup Series victory in a dominating second-half performance at Sonoma Raceway. Throughout the year, he showed more speed than any of his previous five full-time Cup seasons. When all was said and done, he earned a career-high 13 top 10s en route to a 10th-place finish in the standings, the best he’s ever finished in a season.

The Sonoma triumph was significant not just for Suarez, but for Nascar itself. Suarez is a graduate of the Drive for Diversity program, and his victory marked the first time a Mexican-born driver won a Cup race.

For team owner Justin Marks, who co-owns Trackhouse Racing with singer and songwriter Pitbull, Suarez is the backbone of the organization.

“Obviously, everyone at Trackhouse Racing is pleased with the performance and professionalism of Daniel both on and off the track,” team owner Justin Marks said in February when Suarez’s extension was announced.

“Culture has been of prime importance since the idea of Trackhouse existed only on a whiteboard in an office. Daniel has fulfilled every expectation and we look forward to the future. The best is yet to come.”

This is the first time in Suarez’s young Cup career that he’s made it to a third year with the same team. He had a two-year gig at Joe Gibbs Racing before being replaced by Martin Truex Jr., followed by one-year stints with both Stewart-Haas Racing and Gaunt Brothers Racing. When Trackhouse’s formation was announced in the fall of 2020, Suarez was Marks’ handpicked choice.

Not only did Suarez help build Trackhouse from scratch, but he’s become a focal point of the team’s culture. He is now a leader, someone who the team built its infrastructure around.

“The fact I have a company behind me that is working so hard for me and the team, I just feel so blessed,” Suarez said. “For so long, I was working really hard to get in this position, where I can focus on taking care of my sponsors and also on the competition side. I’m fortunate to be in this position.

“The folks at Trackhouse continue to deliver every day. This sport has a very long season. You have to have fun. If you don’t have fun, there is no way you can do this efficiently from February to November.”

As part of the third-year growth plan for Trackhouse, Suarez has identified adjustments that are needed in order for him to compete for a championship. When he watched teammate Ross Chastain finish runner-up in the 2022 standings, he understood that could be him in 2023.

“I think my team was fairly young last year and we made some adjustments for this year,” Suarez said. “I feel like we had a very big inconsistency, where we were competing for wins at some of the races and some we weren’t even close. To work on that consistency is going to be key. We made some adjustments in the team to help that.”

If Suarez can continue the consistency that he’s found to start the 2023 season, he believes team No. 99 can be a threat for the title. After four races in 2023, he’s seventh in points.