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There should never have been any doubt about Daniel Suarez’s future with the Trackhouse Racing Team after the 2022 season of the NASCAR Cup Series.
The NASCAR Cup Series summer slump has been heating up over the past few months, as it does every year around this time.
Much of the focus has been on Joe Gibbs Racing lately, with Martin Truex Jr contemplating retirement and Kyle Busch looking for a main sponsor to replace M&Ms after the 2022 season.
But questions have been asked about a former Joe Gibbs Racing driver. What would Justin Marks do with the #99 Chevrolet if Daniel Suarez couldn’t win?
Marks formed the Trackhouse Racing Team in October 2020 and after adding Pitbull as co-owner they debuted the 2021 season with Suarez as a one car team.
Suarez finished the season in 25th place in the championship standings with just four top-10 finishes, but the team took a big step to prepare for 2022 success when it took over Chip Ganassi Racing, a move nobody has seen – not even Chip Ganassi – saw coming.
But when presented with the vision Marks had for the organization, Ganassi approved the deal that saw the Trackhouse Racing Team expand to two-car operations for 2022.
Marks signed then-Chip Ganassi Racing driver Ross Chastain to drive the second car, the #1 Chevrolet, alongside Suarez.
While Suarez was still looking for his first top-three result with the team after 51 starts, Chastain had six in his first 11 races behind the wheel of the #1 Chevrolet, including his first two wins of his career at the Circuit of the Americas and Talladega Superspeedway.
However, it was no secret that Suarez had actually gone well and on paper the Trackhouse Racing Team had no reason to let him go after just two seasons. We also can’t fail to mention the obvious cultural fit with the budding organization.
From round six of the season at the Circuit of the Americas to round 15 of the season at World Wide Technology Raceway in Gateway, Suarez had led 143 laps. That 10-race total alone was just 23 laps from his career high for a full 36-race season.
But his best result in that span was just a 10th place at Darlington Raceway, a result he surpassed three times in the first five races of the season, including two fourth places.
He had consistently shown good speed during his second season with the Trackhouse Racing Team. He just hadn’t managed to hit the road to victory, and even on some of his stronger days, he was bitten by misfortune at the worst of times.
But results count and the 30-year-old Mexican just wasn’t able to drive an entire race perfectly and turn that into a win.
Considering he’d previously gone winless in 108 starts with two four-car powerhouses in Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing and hadn’t qualified for the playoffs in any of his three seasons with those organizations, a lingering lack of execution was understandably a bit worrying.
Believe it or not, Busch’s name was even mentioned as a possible alternative for the Trackhouse Racing Team should sponsorship for his #18 Toyota not be found.
But Sunday at Sonoma Raceway it all came together for Suarez, who found his way to victory for the first time in his six seasons at NASCAR’s top level.
He eventually broke through, and he did so with relative ease, especially considering all the late passes for the lead that the Gen 7 era has spawned back in 2022. He won the race by 3.849 seconds over second place finisher Chris Buescher of RFK Racing.
Except for three laps during the final pit sequence, Suarez led the entire final leg of the 110-lap race at the 1.99-mile (3.203-kilometer) 12-turn dirt road course in Sonoma, California. He finished the race in the lead with a peak of 47 laps, taking his laps to a new career high of 203 for the season.
And while it hasn’t been confirmed by the team, it’s safe to say that any rumor that Daniel Suarez might be replaced at the wheel of the #99 Chevrolet for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season can be dismissed. He’s here to stay, and with good reason.
