Daniel Suarez has two races remaining in his debut season with Trackhouse Racing. He is part of a smaller team, but he has strong words about the one-car organization and its future in the NASCAR Cup Series. Suarez has called Trackhouse Racing the “best opportunity I’ve ever had.”
Suarez made the comments during the October 29 episode of “I AM ATHLETE NASCAR.” He sat down with hosts Fred Taylor, Channing Crowder, and Brandon Marshall to discuss his NASCAR career and the move to Trackhouse Racing. He spoke about his past stops at Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, also explaining the key factor that sets Trackhouse Racing apart — the people that make up the team and their level of trust.
“I have been very fortunate to be part of amazing organizations,” Suarez said. “I have learned a ton, a lot. I have learned that to be able to pull the train, you have to have all of the people in the right places and all of the people pulling in the same direction.”
“The opportunity that I have right now with Trackhouse, with people, is the best opportunity I’ve ever had. And the reason for that is these guys trust in my talent, they trust in myself. They trust in what I can do.”
Suarez Has Made Strides During His 2021 Campaign
GettyDaniel Suarez races at the Bristol dirt track.
As a former driver for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Suarez is no stranger to top-10 and top-five finishes. He posted a combined 32 top-10s and eight top-fives during his three seasons with the championship-winning organizations (2017-2018 with JGR, 2019 with SHR).
However, Suarez had to reset after a 2020 season that he spent with Gaunt Brothers Racing and only posted a top finish of 18th at Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. He did so by adding more top-10s and top-fives to his resume during the first season with Trackhouse Racing.
Suarez crashed four times in the first 34 races of the season, but he also posted one top-five finish (fourth at Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt track) and four top-10s. Equally as important is the fact that he improved his average finish from 26.6 in 2020 to 19.8 in 2021. For context, his average finishes with Joe Gibbs Racing were 16.2 (2017) and 18.5 (2018). His average finish with SHR was 16.4 (2019).
Suarez Also Looked Back on His Infamous Mid-Race Puke
The driver of the No. 99 covered a multitude of topics during his appearance, including his pre-race routines. He specifically explained that it’s important for him to eat good carbohydrates and protein roughly 2.5 hours before each race. This timing is important due to a previous situation that left vomit on Suarez’s face.
The NASCAR driver spoke about the infamous “puking incident” during the February 21 race at the Daytona Road Course, which he originally revealed in a series of tweets. Suarez explained that he didn’t feel right past the midway point of the race. He threw up with 15 laps remaining and finished the race with vomit covering his face inside of the helmet.
“When it comes to food, I’m quite picky and quite in a way a little delicate,” Suarez told the hosts of “I AM ATHLETE NASCAR.” “For some reason, that day I ate something a little funky. … In the middle of the race, I just started feeling bad, man. I started feeling a little dizzy, I started feeling a little weak, and eventually, I started feeling it.
“Probably about 15 laps [left], I threw up. I threw up, man, for one lap complete. This is going to be nasty, but I had to open the shield, and it was like a fountain. After I threw up, we still had like 10 laps left in the race, and I felt fine. I started going like crazy.”
Suarez continued to make moves. He finished the Daytona Road Course race 16th overall, marking a significant departure from his 36th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 due to a crash involving multiple drivers.
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Daniel Suarez Calls Trackhouse Racing ‘The Best Opportunity’ He’s Ever Had