Daniel Suarez’s chance to compete at NASCAR’s highest level came earlier than he expected. But he says he’s ready for it.
“When you are with right team, you know the opportunity will come, and it will come at the right time,” Suarez said Wednesday after it was announced he will replace Carl Edwards in Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR Cup No. 19 Toyota. “I was there to take the opportunity and here we are. It’s something that you dream about.”
Mexico’s Suarez, 24, had been busy enough since winning last season’s Xfinity championship, becoming the first foreign-born driver to win NASCAR national series title. Then he got a call from JGR owner Joe Gibbs that Edwards was stepping away as a driver and that Suarez would replace him.
“Thank goodness Daniel was there to step in for us,”Gibbs said Wednesday. “Daniel was the obvious choice.”
Now, Suarez’s challenge is to prepare for a rookie season that will include the first Cup race of his career – February’s Daytona 500 – for one of the sport’s most competitive teams. Suarez will step into a solid No. 19 team led by crew chief Dave Rogers.
“I can’t wait to start learning about everything,” Suarez said.
Suarez began racing go karts when he was 11 in his hometown of Monterrey, Mexico, traveling around the country in a pickup truck driven by his father, who also served as his crew chief and mechanic.
“It started as a hobby,” Suarez told the Observer last June. “But we didn’t have much money. We were always looking for a sponsor and money. We had to somehow find a way to pull me to the next level. My dad and myself wanted to do something more in the sport, to be more professional, but we had no experience in what we were doing.”
Suarez eventually caught the eye of Jim Morales, who operated a race team in Mexico. By the time Suarez was 16, he was racing Mini Stocks in NASCAR Mexico and became the youngest driver to win a race in that series.
Morales advised Suarez his best chances to advance in the sport were to head to Europe for open-wheel racing or the United States for NASCAR. At first, Suarez chose Europe. But after a year in Italy, he decided to give NASCAR a try.
Suarez moved to the Charlotte area in 2011, but his first year in the United States was difficult. Struggling with the English language, Suarez drove for an independent team in racing’s lower levels with no success.
He practiced speaking with the engineers and mechanics at the race shop. He made a point of watching English-speaking television and movies.
As Suarez became fluent in English, his racing fortunes improved. In 2013, he was chosen to for NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity, a development system that spotlights minority and female drivers. He was also chosen for NASCAR Next, which helps prepare selected young drivers for a career in the sport.
He won three races in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East in 2013 and ’14. He drove in three Xfinity races in 2014, during which he was noticed by JGR, which signed him to its Xfinity team.
Suarez made the most of that opportunity. He was rookie of the year in the Xfinity in 2015, then won the 2016 championship, winning three races in the process.
A few weeks ago, Suarez was eating lunch with his girlfriend and her family when he received a phone call from Gibbs. Suarez left the table and listened to what Gibbs had to say: Edwards was unexpectedly retiring, Gibbs said, and Suarez was the team’s choice to move into the No. 19.
The news from Edwards – who at age 37 seemed to be in the prime of his career – had caught Gibbs completely unaware.
“This one threw us a curve ball, to be sure,” said Gibbs, who also coached Washington to three Super Bowl victories. “But that’s part of life and what we do.
“About 90 percent of the time, what happens with a coach is you’ve got to tell a guy you’re done at (age) 35, 36 or 37. Normally, you’re telling the athlete it’s over.”
Gibbs said he has encouraged Suarez to lean on JGR teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth for advice.
Gibbs said Busch called him recently.
“He’s driving me crazy!” Gibbs recalled Busch saying. “He’s calling me, like, five times a week.”
Suarez will take part in a test on Jan. 31 at Phoenix International Raceway (one that will also be attended by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is returning to racing after missing the second half of last season with a concussion).
Then it will be on to Daytona and Suarez’s rookie season as a Cup driver. Gibbs said Suarez will also drive in some Xfinity races, with Busch, Hamlin and Kenseth also possibly helping filling in for that team.
“I know this won’t be easy,” Suarez said. “But I couldn’t be on a better team to do this.”
