Daniel Suarez Can't Control the Past

Daniel Suárez wasn’t born into a racing dynasty or even a racing family. His father owned a car-restoration shop in Monterrey, Mexico. At around 10 years old, Suárez jumped in a go-kart at the suggestion of a family acquaintance.

That was in 2003. A few years later, when Suárez was 14 or 15, his father asked if he wanted to go pro. “I told him I was already a professional race-car driver,” Suárez recalls. “He laughed and said, ‘Well, if you’re actually good enough, you can do this as your job.’ Then he started explaining what that meant.”

Suárez, now 30, knows that day changed his life. He didn’t know any professional drivers or how racing could become a career. He just knew he was good. “I was the kid everyone wanted to ask advice from,” Suárez says. “My father knew that. My father knew I had something different.”

His father’s suggestion ultimately led Suárez to the U.S., where he became NASCAR’s first foreign-­born national champion in the Xfinity Series in 2016 and its first Mexican-born race winner in the top-level Cup Series this past June. Before that, Suárez was a kid who didn’t speak English, competing away from home amid a sea of American drivers who’d basically raced one another since they could walk.

“All my friends I raced go-karts with, they are in Mexico,” Suárez says. “I was by myself. I had a few friends who spoke Spanish, but that was pretty much it. At times, it felt a little lonely, but I always try to think of that as part of the process.”

Suárez entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2017 and struggled for a few years. He drove Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing at first, taking his first pole at Pocono in 2018 but never winning. He moved to Stewart-Haas and Ford in 2019 but still found no victories. Then he spent the 2020 season with the underfunded Gaunt Brothers team. Through those four years and nearly 150 starts in Cup, he finished in the top five a mere eight times.

“For many reasons, some of them long stories, that process was tough,” Suárez admits.