USA TODAY International Edition
Suarez applies lessons from rush to Cup
CHARLOTTE – Daniel Suarez had a strange rookie season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Almost on the doorstep of the new season last year, Suarez was told he was being promoted from the Xfinity Series to Cup to replace Carl Edwards, who surprised virtually everyone in the sport by leaving his first-class ride at Joe Gibbs Racing to step away from competition.
Suarez, now 26, was the next guy in line at JGR and was an obvious choice to replace Edwards. A native of Mexico with the 2016 Xfinity championship in his pocket, Suarez stepped up into a new — and tougher — world.
The hurry-up-and-race situation wasn’t ideal for Suarez, who admitted in the preseason that he had much to learn. He had a representative season, scoring a top finish of third (at Watkins Glen, N.Y.) and logging 12 top-10 finishes.
“Last year I had a lot of things on my mind, and everything was happening so fast that the only thing I wanted was to go to the racetrack and drive, and right now everything has been more smooth,” Suarez said Wednesday at the NASCAR Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour. “Everything has been happening more normal, and I believe that will help everyone to have a good start of the season.”
Suarez admitted that his 2017 results weren’t what he wanted.
“That’s not the rookie season that everyone wants, but sometimes that’s what makes you tougher,” he said. “I feel like that can teach me a lot of things to prepare myself better for this year, and I feel like we are going to show that on the racetrack.”
Suarez, who learned English by watching cartoons on television, said he expects improvement both from himself and his team.
“We had several weekends where we were good, but good is not enough in the Cup series,” he said. “You have to be great. And to push those limits with your team, I think that that’s something that I learned, as well, last year, and to be patient. So many different races we had the opportunity to have a good day, and for one or another reason we didn’t, and I feel like that’s something, as well, that we learned last year to apply this year.”