Amid Incredible Year Personally, Suárez Ready to Tackle NASCAR Playoffs
Daniel Suárez has had himself quite the year on and off of the race track.
On the track, the Trackhouse Racing driver has picked up wins in the NASCAR Mexico Series, NASCAR Brasil Series, and he collected his second career NASCAR Cup Series win in a photo finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February. Off the track, Suárez was granted his United States citizenship, something he'd been working on achieving for a decade, and he married his longtime partner Julia Piquet as well.
“Probably is one of the best years of my life and I’m not talking racing. I’m talking everything," Suárez said during NASCAR Playoffs Media Day. "It’s been an amazing year. (on getting married) I think I overachieved. I definitely have done better than I thought I would.”
Which moment tops the highlight reel for Suárez?
"That's very tough, man. If I don't say the wedding, Julia is going to kill me," Suárez laughed. "That's not a good question [laughter]. I wish I could say a lot, but no, definitely the wedding was unbelievable. I'm going to win a bunch of races in my career, I'm going to win championships. You know, the wedding and the U.S. citizenship was a big thing for me."
Suárez continued, "It's been quite a journey, it's been a hell of a year."
And it's not over. If the 32-year-old racer has it his way, he'll collect some more hardware down the stretch, and he'll end up hoisting the Bill France Cup at Phoenix Raceway. As the Playoffs kick off this weekend, Suárez will begin his Playoff push in a return to the site of his victory earlier in the year, Atlanta Motor Speedway.
While he picked up a win at the 1.54-mile hybrid intermediate/superspeedway track earlier this year, Suárez knows that his past trip to victory lane doesn't assure him anything this weekend.
“You never know. It’s going to be around 20 degrees warmer than last time so we’re going to have less grip. So, if you were seeing cars moving around you will see it even more," Suárez said when asked what to expect at Atlanta. "I believe we had a great car last time there and we’re hoping we have even a better one there this time. We just have to continue to push, continue to work hard, and focus on one race at a time.”
As Suárez, crew chief Matt Swiderski, and the No. 99 Trackhouse team will set out to focus solely on one week at a time during the Playoffs, the driver is encouraged by the speed his team has started to find over the last few months. And he hopes the momentum continues to build over the next 10 races.
“We found some stuff in the last couple of months," Suárez admitted. "We definitely got in the right direction. With that being said, we are not winning races yet. We still have work to do. Right now, we can compete consistently in the top 10. But we know that to make it to a championship that’s not going to be enough. We have to continue to push and continue to learn.”
The recent results back up the native of Monterrey, Mexico's claims.
This season, Suárez has six top-10 finishes. Three of them have come over his last five starts, and he's had four in his last 10 races. Had it not been for a freak accident, where his car erupted into flames at Daytona International Speedway, Suárez would have likely had one of the best stretches of results of anyone heading into the Playoffs.
When you remove the 40th-place DNF for fire at Daytona, Suárez has an average finish of 11.833 over his last six races. That's 6.5 positions higher than his average finish when the entire opening 26 races of the season are factored in. They're peaking at the right time, it's just a question of whether their peak will be good enough to put them in the championship mix. We'll see.
While it's been an incredible yea for Suárez in all aspects of his life, the year started off with a cloud of doubt about the future. With a talented, and growing list of young developmental drivers waiting in the wings, and a limited amount of places to put them, many expected Suárez to be the odd man out at Trackhouse Racing.
The doom and gloom surrounding Suárez in Daytona 500 Media Day was palpable. But Suárez proved his doubters wrong a week later with his stirring win at Atlanta. In August, Trackhouse Racing made his return in 2025 official. While silencing the doubters was the end result, Suárez says he doesn't care much about the noise on social media. He's focused on one thing, and one thing only.
"To be very honest with you, I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong. I'm just trying to do my thing," Suárez explained. "People are going to talk. You know, it's normal. You can't control those things, it's completely normal. So, you just have to do your thing, and focus on what you can control. I cannot control what other people think or want to say. Nowadays, people feel extremely confident to express their opinions on social media, that's how people express. They don't express in person anymore. But yeah, that's fine with me. At the end of the day, I'm just doing my thing and working toward my goals with my team. That's what matters to me."
Suárez and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing team will look to check off their next goal, which is advancing to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. That journey begins with the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 8 at 3 PM ET on USA Network.
TOBY CHRISTIE