Daniel Suarez

Suarez at Texas Motorspeedway in 2022.

**Daniel Alejandro Suárez Garza** is a Mexican professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Pepsi Cup Series, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team. He is the 2016 NASCAR Mountain Dew Series Champion, becoming the first non-American to win a major NASCAR National Series championship.

## Career

### 2017: Rookie Year

Shortly after winning the Mnt. Dew Series Championship in 2016. Suárez was tapped to drive the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2017 season. He was paired up with crew chief Dave Rogers. In his first Advance Auto Parts Clash he finished eighth after starting 16th.

In his first points race at the 2017 Daytona 500, Suárez started 19th. However on lap 141, heading down the backstretch, Jamie McMurray, in the top line, was trying to pass Chase Elliott on the inside, but his advance was blocked. McMurray checked up and got hooked into the outside wall by Brendan Gaughan, casting Suárez to swerve to the left to avoid a t-bone collision with McMurray, only to collide with Ryan Newman. The accordion effect resulted in an 11-car wreck and took Suárez out of the 500 in 29th.

After a 21st place run at Atlanta, Suárez scored his first top 20 by finishing twentieth at Las Vegas. He would follow up with a pair of seventh-place finishes in the following two races at Phoenix and Auto Club. After a disappointing 32nd at Martinsville, Suárez finished the following eight races inside the top fifteen, with two top tens at Kansas and Dover. 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.

Suárez finished out his rookies season with one top five and twelve top tens, placing 20th in the standings.

#### The Subway Controversy

During a publicity event with the help of NBC Sports at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway race in July, Suárez gave out free Dunkin Donuts to fans camping in the infield and the surrounding areas of the track, culminating in a controversy from Subway, which was one of his sponsors in the season. Because of this, Subway decided to pull out with a race remaining on their contract for 2017, on top of that Subway had also terminated their sponsorship deal with Joe Gibbs Racing altogether.

### 2018: Sophomore Improvements

Suarez began the 2018 season, 47th in the Daytona 500 after being caught in an early crash at the end of Stage 1.

He then rebounded from the bad finish by finishing 15th at Atlanta, followed by a 28th at Las Vegas, he then scored his first top ten of 2018 at Phoenix after finishing 8th. Four weeks later, Suarez began a top ten streak with a 10th at Richmond and Talladega, then a 3rd at Dover.

Later in the summer at Pocono, Suarez scored his first career pole and ended up finishing 2nd to teammate, Kyle Busch, and he then finished 4th at Watkins Glen.  After that though, Suarez would only have three more top tens and finished 21st in points.

On September 21, 2018, it was reported that Suárez removed all references to Joe Gibbs Racing from his Twitter account, hinting that he will be out of the team by the end of the 2018. And it was proven true after Martin Truex Jr. would join JGR’s 19 team after the closure of Furniture Row Racing on November 7th, 2018.

### 2019: Stewart HAAS Racing

On January 7, 2019, it was announced that Suárez signed with Stewart HAAS Racing for 2019 for the organization’s 41 Ford.  In addition, Suárez brought in Arris to sponsor the team alongside HAAS and a few other partners.

Suarez began the 2019 season, 33rd in the Daytona 500 after being collected in a big crash. He then rebounded from the accident with a 10th place finish the following week in the 2019 Fold of Honor Quiktrip 500 at Atlanta, he followed up with a 15th at Las Vegas.

The following week, during qualifying for the 2019 TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, Suarez was involved in an on-track incident with Micheal McDowell, culminating in a fight on pit road. Suarez finished 23rd in the race.

With massive improvements throughout the season with three top fives and six top tens, Suarez seemed like a challenger for the playoffs, however in the 2019 Big Machine Vodka 400 at Indianapolis, Suarez got in an on-track incident with rookie Matt Tifft, causing a caution and Suarez finishing 11th, Suarez ended up missing the playoffs finishing 17th in points.

Later on November 14, 2019, it was announced that Suárez would not return to the No. 41 car in 2020, being replaced by Cole Custer.

### 2020: Gaunt Brothers Racing

On January 28, 2020, Suárez officially signed with Gaunt Brothers Racing to drive full-time in 2020.

Despite his eligibility, he didn’t compete the 2020 Busch Clash.

Suarez later began the 2020 season, 48th in the Daytona 500 after mechanical issues forced him out the race.

The following week at Las Vegas, he experienced mechanical issues before the opening lap, resulting in him finishing 40th, four laps down. Throughout the season, he struggled to make a decent finish, with his highest being two 18th place finishes at Bristol and Kansas in the summer, which both finishes were two of three top twenties, finishing an abysmal 31st in the standings.

On September 14th, Suárez announced he would not return to Gaunt Brothers Racing at the end of the season. He later announced on October 7th that he would join the Trackhouse Racing Team.

### 2021-Present: Trackhouse Racing

For the 2021 season, Suárez joined Trackhouse’s No. 99.

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.

After finishing 46th in the Daytona 500, Suarez immediately took off in his performances, nabbing fifteen top twenties, three top tens, and one top five at the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race.  Suarez finished 25th in points.

Suarez rejoined Trackhouse in 2022, beginning the year 18th in the Daytona 500, followed by a 4th place run at Auto Club after being in contention for the win in the final laps.

Later at Sonoma, Suarez got past Chris Buescher and took charge early in the final stage, holding onto the lead after a pit stop and a caution to emerge in front with 23 laps to go , en route to his first Pepsi Cup win.