Star in Mexico, Suarez aims for U.S. fame
Daniel DAYTONABEACH,FLA.— Suarez wore a suit but ditched the tie the first time he spoke at the White House. The classy yet casual attire seemed to fit for a speech in front of about 150 Latino students not much younger than he.
Suarez was invited to talk as part of President Barack Obama’s My Brother Keeper’s initiative to help young people stay on track and think broadly about their future.
Growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, Suarez and his love of cars blossomed as he tagged along at his father’s auto-restoration shop. The White House may as well have been as far away as the moon. He loved karting and VW Beetles and dreamed of racing stock cars at Autodromo in Mexico.
Those moments flashed for Suarez before he addressed the kids last October. He was still just a relatively unknown — at least in the United States — Xfinity Series driver, a month from being crowned NASCAR’s El Campeon. Two months from landing the NASCAR ride of a lifetime.
Speaking English that he taught himself from years of watching American movies and cartoons, Suarez kept his topic to one he knows best.
“All the time that I need to talk to new kids in a new generation,” the 25-year-old Suarez said, “the only thing I try to tell them is a little bit of my story.” Suarez is akin to, say, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona when he returns home to Mexico.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto tweeted in Spanish to Suarez and called him “a pride for Mexico and Latin America.” Weeks after Suarez became NASCAR’s first foreign-born champion, he was greeted in early December with a rock-star reception at a parade in Mexico City. He was mobbed by screaming fans chanting, “Dani! Dani! Dani!” and was stopped every step or two for a selfie or to sign autographs. Suarez waved a Mexican flag, addressed the faithful fans over a public address system and had few moments to spare and think about how life could get any better as his country’s racing hero.
The high from the championship bash still hadn’t subsided weeks later when Suarez’s dinner with his family was interrupted by a call from NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs. He wanted Suarez patched in on a conference call with other Joe Gibbs Racing executives.
“Something is going on here,” Suarez told The Associated Press inside his motor home. “I hope it’s something good.”
Suarez had steeled himself to prepare for another year racing in NASCAR’s second-tier series. Carl Edwards, winner of 28 career races, accelerated Suarez’s career path with a stunning decision to walk away from NASCAR and leave a Cup vacancy in the 2018 No. 19 Toyota Camry.
“They asked me if I was ready. I said yes,” Suarez said. “We came up with a plan and started moving forward with everything.”
Suarez will make his first career start in NASCAR’s elite racing series today at the Daytona 500.
He snared a good car, too, ready to ride with a JGR team that fell just 10 laps shy of winning a championship last season. Suarez is in demand, as well, as the fresh Mexican face with the carefree attitude NASCAR is counting on to diversify its fan base and bring Latinos to the tracks and their televisions.
Suarez is all energy, answering reporters’ questions in both English and Spanish, his sentences all seeming to need an exclamation point.
He wants to share a story from his previous night. He was at an area restaurant when he was stopped outside by a Mexican couple. He looked familiar to them, and one of them asked him his last name.
“When I said Suarez, they said, ‘Man, you’re the race car driver!’ My fiancé told me there was a Mexican driver, and we are going to the race because of you!”
Suarez, a top rookie of the year candidate groomed as NASCAR’s next big star, has embraced the Speedweeks spotlight.
“I’ve had pressure my entire career,” Suarez said. “This is normal for me.”
Alejandro Suarez had packed his car and trailer with Suarez’s karting gear for the States the first time when they road-tripped to Las Vegas for an event. Just 12, Suarez finished strong enough to further fuel the idea he could have some sort of racing career.
As the younger Suarez grew fascinated with stock cars, Alejandro knew he needed to raise the whopping amount of money needed to support this pricey new venture. He sold his auto restoration business, and Suarez’s stock car career soon took off in Mexico. Suarez had a ride in NASCAR’s Mexico series (winning five times in 2014) and NASCAR’s low-level K&N Pro Series East series and morphed into a teen sensation at home.
“I never even thought about racing in the United States. My goal was to race in Mexico,” Suarez said. “Once I got there, I was like, now I’m with the big guys. Less than a year later I was winning races over there.”
Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, can only hope Suarez is as adapt at taking checkered flags this season.
“When sponsors come in to Charlotte, we have outings, go bowling, indoor kart racing. Daniel shows up whether it’s his sponsor or not,” Gibbs said. “Hey, it’s 7 in the morning, and he’s in the weight room. We couldn’t get Tony Stewart or Kyle (Busch) or anybody else to do it.”
Alejandro Suarez helped his son pack again for the U.S. years later, stuffing a 1994 VW Fire Beetle with all the belongings Daniel needed for his move to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Suarez had two thoughts in 2011 as he embarked on the 1,530-mile drive that would transform his life: “‘How am I going to learn English?’ My second one was, ‘How am I going to get some opportunities to race?’”
Suarez flashed enough talent in Mexico and made the proper connections to earn a spot in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program. Gibbs signed him to his Xfinity Series program in 2014. He won three poles in 2015, had three wins and became NASCAR’s first Mexican champ a year ago, and now has a premier ride.
“There’s not a lot of rookies that get to get in stuff like that right away,” JGR teammate and 2003 Cup champion Matt Kenseth said. “The expectations will be high, but that’s a huge advantage for him to be driving for a team like that.”
NASCAR MONSTER ENERGY CUP SCHEDULE
x-Advance Auto Parts Clash Daytona 500, Daytona Beach, Fla. Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Hampton, Ga. Kobalt 400, Las Vegas
Camping World 500, Avondale, Ariz.
Auto Club 400, Fontana, Calif.
STP 500, Martinsville, Va.
O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Fort Worth, Texas
Food City 500, Bristol, Tenn.
Toyota Owners 400, Richmond, Va.
GEICO 500, Talladega, Ala.
Go Bowling 400, Kansas City, Kan.
x-The Showdown, Concord, N.C.
x-All-Star Race, Concord, N.C.
Coca-Cola 600, Concord, N.C. AAA 400, Dover, Del.
Pocono 400, Long Pond, Pa.
FireKeepers Casino 400, Brooklyn, Mich.
Toyota/Save Mart 350, Sonoma, Calif.
Coke Zero 400, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Quaker State 400, Sparta, Ky.
New Hampshire 301, Loudon, N.H.
Brickyard 400, Indianapolis
Pennsylvania 400, Long Pond, Pa.
Watkins Glen 355, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Pure Michigan 400, Brooklyn, Mich.
Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol, Tenn.
Bojangles Southern 500, Darlington, S.C.
Federated Auto Parts 400, Richmond, Va. Joliet, Ill. Chicagoland 400,
New Hampshire 300, Loudon, N.H.
Dover Fall Race, Dover, Del.
Bank of America 500, Concord, N.C.
Alabama 500, Talladega, Ala.
Hollywood Casino 400, Kansas City, Kan.
Martinsville Fall Race, Martinsville, Va.
AAA Texas 500, Fort Worth, Texas
Can-Am 500, Avondale, Ariz.
Ford Ecoboost 400, Homestead, Fla.