Suarez celebrates historic journey
NASCAR gets its first Mexican-born driver
DAYTONA BEACH — Beepbeep, and please get out of the way. Daniel Suarez is a very busy man.
Sirius XM Radio. SI Now. Fox. CNN Español. CNN International. A smattering of makeup on and a smile on his face. Stories to share in different languages.
The golf cart pulls into the infield entrance along Turn 4 at Daytona International Speedway. The security guard raises his hands. The golf cart stops.
“I need to see a credential,” he says, pointing at Suarez.
“He’s a driver,” says his PR rep, Donald Edwards.
The hand waves. Off we go again. Beep beep.
The future of NASCAR can “habla español,” which explains why Suarez’s day-planner includes a bit of multicultural cross-town traffic. English. Spanish. He speaks Portuguese, too, so that could complicate things even more should NASCAR expand its global brand.
For now, the marketing plan is succinct: At 25, Suarez will become the first Mexican-born competitor to race full-time intheMonster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. That also makes him the only foreign-born driver in the Daytona 500 this afternoon, mixing it up with folks named Earnhardt, Elliott, Busch and Johnson.
It’s easy to stand out in that crowd, especially in a sport with a legacy etched in the lore of Southern moonshine and drivers with quirky Southern drawls. Suarez still has a thick Spanish accent, but his vocabulary is excellent, probably because he learned English watching movies with subtitles, with a smattering of American cartoons.
Suarez found his passion for racing inMexico, fueled by the speed rush of gokarts and the support of his father, Alejandro, who helped put all the pieces together with money saved through a small auto-restoration shop in Monterrey, Mexico.
The ultimate driving destination became the United States, and in 2012, he started his crossover career path by competing in the K&N Pro Series East. He didn’t have much money, but he had a lot of moxie…and driving skills.
“Who else would have enough courage as a kid to go to another country without speaking the language and go there to try to crack a sport?” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “How many of uswould even try that?”
Gibbs would eventually becomehis boss, andSuarez delivered by winning the Xfinity Series championship in 2016. Then came the unexpected twist in the Coming to America storyline. The assent from Xfinity to the Cup Series was accelerated by a year with the sudden exit strategy involving Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Carl Edwards.
Edwards announced he was stepping away in early January, leaving Gibbs in scramble mode. “Total shock,” Gibbs said. “Had no idea. We were really fortunate.”
That was because of Suarez. Tag, you’re it, kid.
“We all knew who was going to go in that seat ... ,” said David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development. “[W]hat impresses me about Daniel is that he’s able to maintain his calm, his Zen demeanor. As a young man, that’s a difficult thing to do. You don’t see him freaking out.”
They had to keep the news underwraps for about a week before the official announcement, but back home inMexico, Alejandro, his mother, Rosy, and two young sisters got the gist that something big was about to happen.
Toyota changed the name on the No. 19 Camry from “Edwards” to “Suarez,” weeks before the start of the season. And in a sponsorship-driven industry, Suarez has established enough street cred to pick up a four-race sponsorship from Subway, announced earlier thisweek.
“It’s been a hell of a ride so far,” he said. “It was amazing last year with the Xfinity championship and nowthis. It’s been a very fun journey so far and I’m trying to enjoy every single moment of it.”