“It Was a Struggle”: Mexican NASCAR Driver Daniel Suárez Opens up on Tough NASCAR Journey

Trackhouse Racing star Daniel Suarez is the first Mexican-origin driver to win a NASCAR National Series race. A true torchbearer for his community, he recently cleared his American Citizenship test and is soon to hold dual citizenship in the States and Mexico. While he is today a key part of his team’s journey to being a Cup Series powerhouse, it wasn’t always that times were as good.

In a conversation with Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie, the 32-year-old spoke about the struggles that he faced when he first came to the states back in 2011. He said, “I had nights crying in the apartment of my friend. Without speaking the language, without having money to go eat, calling my Mom. I’m struggling and then she was crying on the phone with me. It was a struggle.”

Suarez had known in those tough moments that his life would eventually turn around if he stayed focused on his goals. And they did. He continued remembering how he’d made a self-declaration to not let the struggles go to waste. “It’s going to work. I don’t know how, I don’t know if it’s even possible. But I want to make this thing work,” he said. “So, without me knowing I had the mentality of Plan A. All in.”

The impact that Trackhouse Racing had on Daniel Suarez

Suarez spent many years driving for a number of teams in the states and in Mexico before getting to Trackhouse in 2021. The key difference that he notes between the other outfits and his current one is the level of belief that was put on him. Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Kyle Busch Motorsports are some of the top teams that he drove for at some point in his career.

He said to LaJoie, “I had a mentality about it. You know what? You have to be with the best team to be able to be successful. Well, that’s right. But at the same time it has to be like a relationship. It has to be a two-way road. If you don’t have a two-way road at one point it’s going to break.” Continuing, he added that he felt like he had the support that he needed only when he got to Trackhouse.

The reason behind that is Justin Marks being open about building the team around Suarez. The Mexican’s had been the first door that Marks knocked on when thinking of building a new NASCAR team. With the right people around him, Suarez believes that the best progress can be made. “It’s incredible what the right energy and the right belief can do for racing,” he concluded.