Steve Letarte Believes This Was the Perfect Time for the Trackhouse Racing-Daniel Suarez Divorce

Just 48 hours after a tumultuous outing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Daniel Suárez ended his day mired in P34 following a multi-car incident, Trackhouse Racing dropped the hammer. In a mutual decision, the team and the Mexican driver announced they would be parting ways at the end of this season.

Suárez joined the Justin Marks-led outfit in 2021, serving as the face of the team’s debut season when it entered the NASCAR Cup Series as a single-car operation. Since then, Trackhouse has blossomed into a three-car powerhouse, pairing Suárez with Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen. As the No. 99 Chevrolet prepares for new hands on the wheel, the writing is now on the wall.

During his tenure with Trackhouse, Suárez tallied two Cup Series victories. His breakthrough came at Sonoma in 2022, followed by a statement win at Atlanta last year. But fast forward to 2025, and Suárez finds himself languishing 29th in the standings at the season’s halfway mark, with no clear path to the postseason unless he can pull off a win in the remaining eight regular-season races.

With a vacancy looming, rising prospect Connor Zilisch — already running part-time with the team — could be the perfect replacement. While the news may sting for Suárez, former crew chief and analyst Steve Letarte believes the timing was right for a clean break.

“I think this was a business decision. Why now? I actually applaud the parties involved for a couple of reasons. Trackhouse has to move forward with their plan. I think we can all assume what it is. They have a bunch of drivers in the pipeline. One being Connor Zilisch… If something was going to happen, Daniel has to go out and find a ride,” Letarte said.

“So, I will tell you that while this is uncomfortable, I think this is the way to do it because I think this is the only way this 99 has success to finish this year off. If this happens, in the shadows and in the whispers and doesn’t become official, how does Daniel move forward? How does Trackhouse move forward without the relationship becoming more sour?” Letarte added.

The numbers tell the story. Suárez’s average finish slid from 16.5 in 2022 to 19 the following year, then improved slightly to 17.86 in 2024, only to dip again — now hovering at 20.65 in 2025. With playoff hopes slipping and performance waning, the team decided to rip off the band-aid.

As Suárez watches both of his teammates, Chastain, winner of the Coca-Cola 600, and van Gisbergen, victorious in Mexico, secure playoff berths, he now finds himself with one last shot at redemption. It’s win or bust for the No. 99 in the home stretch.

Suárez’s statement after the release

Suárez broke his silence just ahead of the official announcement, delivering “a message to my amigos” in which he confirmed that he and Trackhouse Racing had reached a mutual decision to part ways at the conclusion of the 2025 season.

Instead of having hard feelings for the team, Suárez lauded the team, saying, “I’ve had some of the best years of my Cup Series career at Trackhouse. We had great successes as a team, and I gained some incredible friends.

“We took a team nobody had even heard of in 2021, and in just a couple of years, we were winning races and running up front on a weekly basis. Just like the seasons in a year, sometimes things change, and we have mutually agreed to each go in our own direction. I wish Trackhouse nothing but the best, this 99 team will always be special to me. And like I always say, the best is ahead!”

Speaking later on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Suárez made it clear he wasn’t bowing out with a heavy heart. He said, “This is not sad. This is just a new chapter. That’s all it is.”

He added that the decision had been in the works for some time, and the announcement simply made it official. “This is not something new for me. I have known about this for a while. It just happens to be official today. But I’m actually a little bit relieved it’s already out and people know about it and we can talk about it and we can move forward with future plans.”

Suárez now shifts his focus to the streets of Chicago, where he’ll look to steady the ship. In two previous starts at the course, he has an average finish of 19 and will aim to improve that number as the playoff pressure mounts.