Daniel Suarez’s sensational win at Atlanta led to many things, one of which was a heap of praise sprinkled on top of words from his boss Justin Marks regarding his future at Trackhouse. “I don’t envision necessarily a situation where Daniel is not a driver for Trackhouse Racing,” Marks said. However, Denny Hamlin, who knows a thing or two about owning and managing a team with big ideas, isn’t buying Marks’ words at face value.
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Speaking on his podcast, Hamlin said of Marks’ claim, “That’s too vague. I know. I hear that and I listen to the teardown and when you statements like, ‘He’ll always be a part of Trackhouse,’ I’m sorry, that’s not, that’s all he can say, more than likely.”
“But he didn’t say driving a Cup car at Trackhouse.”
When Hamlin’s co-host suggested the idea that by winning at Atlanta, Daniel Suarez has allowed himself some breathing room, Hamlin agreed and said, “It does. It should,” as he added the levels to which such things get to in NASCAR’s top flight.
“I’m just gonna tell you that this thing comes down to dollars and cents sometimes and when you got a couple of drivers are very, very close or what you deem very close, you’re gonna make whatever makes most financial sense. And sometimes, in some instances, you do whatever makes financial sense to survive, and the talent doesn’t mean as much.”
Denny Hamlin claims there’d be no speculation on Daniel Suarez’s future in this scenario
Further talking about Daniel Suarez’s win at Atlanta and what it means for Trackhouse, Denny Hamlin deemed it “a really good thing,” for both the organization as well as the driver. “Hopefully, this gives him some momentum. Trust me, if Daniel has got a fully funded car every single year, sponsors that love him, we’re not even talking about this,” Hamlin claimed.
“I don’t believe that we’d have these conversations.”
Having said that, Hamlin added that some teams in the Cup garage that are trying to move up the ladder and get better, one of which is Trackhouse Racing, so they will make decisions that make “good business sense” as well as “good competition sense.”
Whether the balance of these two senses for Trackhouse would realistically include Daniel Suarez in the future as a driver, only time will tell. But for now, he has indeed earned himself some relief from all the speculation over his future.
