Daniel Alejandro Suárez Garza (born January 7, 1992) is a Mexican professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

driver. He competes full-time in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

, driving the No. 99

Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

for

Trackhouse Racing Team Trackhouse Racing is a professional stock car auto racing organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team is owned by Trackhouse Entertainment Group, a venture of Justin Marks and Grammy Award-winning rapper Armando Christ ...

. He previously drove in the

NASCAR Toyota Series The NASCAR Mexico Series (formerly NASCAR Corona Series and other names) is a NASCAR series in Mexico. It is the most prestigious stock car racing series in the country. Origins (Desafío Corona) The Desafío Corona was established in 2004 by ...

in Mexico for Telcel Racing, and the

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly Busch East Series, Busch North Series, Camping World East Series, and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and ...

for

Rev Racing Rev or Rév may refer to: Abbreviations Rev. * Rev., an abbreviation for revolution, as in Revolutions per minute * Rev., an abbreviation for the religious style The Reverend * Rev., the abbreviation for Runtime Revolution, a development environ ...

as a member of the

Drive for Diversity The Drive for Diversity (D4D) program is a development system instituted by the American auto racing league NASCAR. The program's purpose is to attract minority and female individuals to the sport, primarily as drivers, but also including ownersh ...

program. Suárez also previously competed in the

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

, where he won the series championship in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

with

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His ...

, becoming the first non-American to win a major NASCAR National Series championship.

Racing career

Early career

Daniel Suárez at Thunder Valley third take

A native of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. Wit ...

, Suárez began his racing career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ...

in 2002. In 2007, he won the class championship. In 2008, he moved to the preliminary category of NASCAR Mexico, Mini-Stocks, where he became the youngest driver to win a race in the series. He moved to the NASCAR Mexico Series in 2010, driving for Telcel Racing and winning the series' Rookie of the Year title. In 2011, Suárez participated in the

Toyota All-Star Showdown The Sunrise Ford All-Star Showdown is a Super Late Model championship event at Irwindale Speedway, originally held from 2006-10 seasons as a non-championship NASCAR event for lower-level series, and since the 2020 motorsport season, revived by t ...

Irwindale Speedway Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, w ...

, finishing in 11th, the highest-finishing Mexican driver in the event. In the 2011 NASCAR Mexico Series, he finished the season with three poles and a podium, finishing ninth in the standings. At the same time, he participated in 7 races of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. In 2012, he alternated his time between the Mexico Series and K&N Pro Series East. In Mexico, he led the points for most of the season and entered the final race of the year in contention for the championship, but wound up finishing third, having scored two victories. In the K&N Pro Series East, he finished in sixteenth place in the overall standings, achieving 3 top-10s in nine races. Suárez competed for the full season in the K&N Pro Series East in 2013, driving a Toyota for Rev Racing. He scored his first victory in the series at Columbus Motor Speedway, also recorded six top-5 and nine top-ten finishes on his way to third in the championship standings. Meanwhile, he finished runner-up of the NASCAR Toyota Series achieved 3 wins and five podium finishes in the season. Suárez was also named to NASCAR's

program during the 2013 season. In 2014, Suárez returned to the K&N East and Toyota Series, winning the first two K&N East and first Toyota Series races of the season. In April, he was selected by

to make his debut in the

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

, driving the team's No. 20 Toyota; he finished 19th.

2015

In August 2014, it was announced that Suárez would compete full-time in the

2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 34th season of the 2nd tier Xfinity Series, a professional stock car racing tour sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. It began with the Alert Today Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway on ...

in the No. 18 Toyota for

and that he would also run a partial schedule in the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the No. 51 Toyota for

Kyle Busch Motorsports Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. They formerly competed in the CARS Tour, ARCA/CRA Super Series, Southern Super Series, and the ARCA Mena ...

. On July 4, 2015, Suárez won the pole for the Xfinity Series

Subway Firecracker 250 The Wawa 250 Powered By Coca-Cola is a NASCAR Xfinity Series race that is held at Daytona International Speedway. Scheduled as a race, it is held the night before the NASCAR Cup Series' Coke Zero Sugar 400, and was run on Independence Day weeken ...

at Daytona, his first career pole in the series. Suárez would go on to win 2 more poles at Iowa and Kentucky and won his first ARCA pole at Kansas. Suárez went on to win the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie of the year title edging Darrell Wallace Jr. for the award by one single top ten finish in statistics. Suárez finished the season 5th in points.

2016

In 2016, Suárez's car number in the Xfinity Series was switched to No. 19. He won his first Xfinity Series race at Michigan, by passing

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-tim ...

on the last lap, becoming the first Mexican-born driver to win in a NASCAR national touring series. Suárez won his second Xfinity Series race during the Round of 12 in the Chase at Dover in October. With this win, he would advance to the Round of 8. In November, Suárez won his first Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix, taking the lead late in the race after William Byron lost an engine. In the season-ending Xfinity Series race at Homestead, Suárez dominated the race and took the lead on the final restart with 2 laps to go to score his first Xfinity Series championship. Suárez became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series championship.

2017

After the retirement of

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...

, Suárez was tapped to drive the No. 19

Arris In architecture, an arris is the sharp edge formed by the intersection of two surfaces, such as the corner of a masonry unit; the edge of a timber in timber framing; the junction between two planes of plaster or any intersection of divergent a ...

Stanley Tools Stanley Hand Tools is a brand of hand tools. It is a division of Stanley Black & Decker, following the merger of The Stanley Works with Black & Decker in March 2010. History The Stanley Works was founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, or ...

-sponsored

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

for JGR. He was paired up with crew chief Dave Rogers. In his first Advance Auto Parts Clash he finished eighth after starting 16th. Suárez scored a pair of seventh-place finishes at Phoenix and Auto Club. Shortly before the Martinsville race, Suárez's crew chief, Rogers, took an indefinite leave of absence. He was replaced by Scott Graves, who was Suárez's crew chief when he won the 2016 Xfinity Series championship. In May, Suárez won the final stage of the Monster Energy Open, which allowed him to advance into the All-Star Race. In June, Suárez opened the month by finishing a career-best sixth at Dover. Later in the month, Suárez joined

MDM Motorsports MDM Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that most recently competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, and the ARCA Racing Series. The team also competed in the NASCAR Camping World Tr ...

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southe ...

for the

K&N Pro Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racin ...

race, his and MDM's debuts in the series. After qualifying seventh, he finished 11th. Later in the summer, Suárez earned a series of four consecutive finishes of seventh or better, including a third-place finish at Watkins Glen and a Stage 2 winner over stage leader Martin Truex Jr. During the season, Suárez was involved in controversy from one of his sponsors,

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Intercontin ...

. During a publicity event with the help of

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

at the

New Hampshire Motor Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...

in July, he gave out free

Dunkin Donuts Dunkin' Donuts LLC, also known as Dunkin' and by the initials DD, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg (1916–2002) in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 195 ...

to fans camping in the infield and the surrounding areas of the track. Nearly two months later, Subway decided to pull out with a race remaining on their contract. After the announcement,

Camping World Camping World Holdings, Inc. is an American corporation specializing in selling recreational vehicles (RVs), recreational vehicle parts, and recreational vehicle service. They also sell supplies for camping. The company has its headquarters in ...

owner

Marcus Lemonis Marcus Anthony Lemonis (born November 16, 1973) is a Lebanese-born American businessman, television personality and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Camping World, Good Sam Enterprises, Gander RV and The House Boardshop, ...

tweeted his intention to sponsor Suárez, which took place at Talladega's Alabama 500. Suárez also ran 14 Xfinity Series races with a best finish of second at the fall Bristol race to his teammate

2018

During the 2018 season, Suárez won his first career Cup Series pole at Pocono, after

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...

and Kyle Busch's qualifying times were disallowed following an inspection. He also scored a career-best second place in the race. Suárez, however, struggled to stay consistent throughout the season with three top-fives and nine top-10 finishes. On October 9, 2018, Rogers returned to replace Graves as Suárez's crew chief. On September 21, 2018, it was reported that Suárez removed all references to Joe Gibbs Racing from his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

profile, hinting that he will be out of the team by the end of the 2018 season. On November 7, 2018, it was announced that Suárez will be replaced by Martin Truex Jr. in 2019.

2019

On January 7, 2019, it was announced that Suárez signed with

Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...

to drive the No. 41

Ford Mustang GT The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best sellin ...

in the 2019 season. In addition, Suárez brought in Arris to sponsor the team. During qualifying for the 2019 TicketGuardian 500 at Phoenix, Suárez had an on-track incident with Michael McDowell, which resulted in a fight on pit road. Despite showing signs of improvement in performance, Suárez failed to make the 2019 playoffs after finishing 11th after an on-track incident with Matt Tifft that caused a caution at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. On November 14, 2019, it was announced that Suárez would not return to the No. 41 car in 2020.

2020

On January 28, 2020, Suárez officially signed with

Gaunt Brothers Racing Gaunt Brothers Racing was a Canadian professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. Gaunt Brothers Racing also competes in the Pinty's Series and the K&N Pro Series. The team is owned by Marty Gaunt, president and CEO ...

to race the No. 96 Toyota full-time in 2020. Despite being eligible, he did not participate in the

2020 Busch Clash The 2020 Busch Clash was a NASCAR Cup Series Busch Clash, race held on February 9, 2020 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 88 laps — extended from 75 laps due to an green-white-checker finish, overtime fin ...

to focus on the

2020 Daytona 500 The 2020 Daytona 500, the 62nd running of the event, was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 16–17, 2020. It was contested over 209 laps—extended from 200 laps due to an overtime finish, on the asphalt superspeedway. It was the first r ...

. Suárez failed to make the Daytona 500 after finishing 22nd in Duel 1 of the

2020 Bluegreen Vacations Duels The 2020 Bluegreen Vacations Duels were a pair of NASCAR Cup Series stock car races held on February 13, 2020, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2020 ...

when he collided with

Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney a ...

in turn 4. Suárez made his official debut with GBR at

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

a week later, but he experienced mechanical issues before the opening lap, resulting in him finishing 30th with four laps down. Throughout the season, he struggled to make a decent finish, with his highest being two 18th place finishes at

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

and

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

. On September 14, Suárez announced he would not return to Gaunt Brothers Racing at the end of the season. On October 7, he announced that he will join

Justin Marks Justin Marks (born March 25, 1981) is an American racing driver, entrepreneur, and current owner of Trackhouse Racing Team in the NASCAR Cup Series. He last competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the No. 93 for Meyer Shank R ...

' new

in 2021.

2021

For the 2021 season, Suárez joined the No. 99 car for Trackhouse Racing. The No. 99 was last used by Carl Edwards, whom he replaced at JGR (with Edwards giving both Suárez and Trackhouse his blessing for the number). Suárez's run with Trackhouse was seen by many as his best, and very likely his last, chance at resurrecting his career after his struggles the previous few seasons. Although it took time for Suárez and the team to gel, Trackhouse quickly gained a reputation for competitiveness and on-track action during the season with Suárez behind the wheel. During the 2021 season, Suárez scored Trackhouse's first top five with a fourth place finish at the Bristol dirt race. Suárez also scored top tens at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Suárez also competed in the

Trans-Am The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includi ...

race in

for Marks' SCCA team.

2022: First Cup win

Daniel Suarez Checkered Flag Sonoma 2022

Suárez returned to Trackhouse for the 2022 season after the team acquired multiple charters from

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Champions ...

. In February 2022, Suárez and Trackhouse expanded a sponsorship deal with

Freeway Insurance Freeway Insurance Services America, LLC, or Freeway Insurance, is an American insurance agency with over 500 retail locations in the United States. The company sells primarily non-standard auto insurance, which is required for new and higher ri ...

, granting the company primary sponsorship rights for five events throughout the 2022 NASCAR Cup series. At Sonoma, Suárez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a Cup Series race. Suárez was eliminated in the Round of 12 after finishing 36th at the

Charlotte Roval Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including ...

. He finished the season at a career-best 10th in the points standings. In the Truck Series, Suárez relieved an injured Carson Hocevar on lap 11 of the Sonoma race, bringing the No. 42 truck to a sixth place finish.

Personal life

Suárez resides in

Huntersville, North Carolina Huntersville is a large suburban town in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States. A part of the Charlotte metropolitan area, the population was 61,376 at the 2020 census, making Huntersville the 15th largest municipality in North Carol ...

. Suárez is engaged to Julia Piquet, daughter of three-time

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

World Champion

Nelson Piquet Nelson Piquet Souto Maior (, born 17 August 1952) is a Brazilian retired racing driver and businessman. Since his retirement, Piquet, a three-time World Champion, has been ranked among the greatest Formula One (F1) drivers in various motorspo ...

In popular culture

In 2017, Suárez voiced the character Daniel "Danny" Swérvez in the

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

film ''

Cars 3 ''Cars 3'' is a 2017 American computer-animated sports comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The sequel to ''Cars 2'' (2011) and the third installment of the ''Cars'' film series, the ...

''. In 2019, Suárez made a cameo in the movie '' Stuber''.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

=Daytona 500

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

K&N Pro Series East

K&N Pro Series West

Toyota Series

ARCA Racing Series

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez, Daniel Living people 1992 births Sportspeople from Monterrey Racing drivers from Nuevo León NASCAR drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers Mexican racing drivers Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Stewart-Haas Racing drivers NASCAR Xfinity Series champions