CHICAGO – The writing was on the wall for Daniel Suarez. The last six to eight months have been a mental battle for the 33-year-old. He’s known for several months that he wouldn’t be returning to Trackhouse Racing in 2026.
It was finally made official on Tuesday, July 1. That brought a sense of relief for the veteran Cup Series driver.
“It was a lot of relief for me because I have known for several months that it was going to happen,” Suarez said on Saturday, ahead of practice for Sunday’s Chicago Street Race. “It’s just like everything in life, things change, people change, the company changes and that’s OK, there’s nothing wrong with that. There just wasn’t a love anymore. There are no hard feelings at all.”
Justin Marks, team owner of Trackhouse Racing, plucked Suarez out of a miserable season in 2020 where he was competing for Gaunt Brothers Racing, failing to qualify for the Daytona 500. The No. 99 team missed out on the playoffs in Trackhouse’s debut season in 2021, but midway through that year Marks purchased Chip Ganassi Racing to have a second charter.
Ross Chastain transitioned over to Trackhouse through the acquisition of CGR, and earned the organization’s first victory at Circuit of The Americas in 2022. Suarez won his first Cup race a few months later at Sonoma Raceway in dominant fashion.
Suarez missed the postseason in 2023, but an early victory in 2024 locked him into the playoffs and potentially saved his ride for an additional year. At the same time Shane van Gisbergen and upstart phenom Connor Zilisch both signed contracts with Trackhouse, hoping it would lead to Cup Series opportunities.
Last summer, van Gisbergen was announced as the driver of the newly-formed No. 88 Chevrolet, as Trackhouse purchased a third charter from a defunct Stewart-Has Racing. He won last month’s inaugural Cup Series race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. And with Zilisch likely in position to be fast-tracked to Cup in 2026, Suarez knew it was time for a reset.
“The last six to eight months have been very difficult for me,” Suarez added. “I think this was what was going to happen; I wasn’t very happy anymore and I wasn’t the only one. It was just a matter of time to end this chapter.
“I love this 99 team. The 99 team is one of the best teams that I’ve ever had and I’m going to miss that group so much. That team is so special to me, but it’s a cycle.”
Suarez stated that he hoped to conclude his career driving the No. 99 car. But he also believed that once Trackhouse became a global brand, with additions like a MotoGP team, it took away from the NASCAR side.
“There have been situations in the last eight to 10 months that I didn’t feel like I used to feel with different situations,” Suarez added. “Sometimes, when you don’t have that feel, there is no chemistry anymore. It’s like being in a relationship but just living together because you bought a house together. It doesn’t feel good anymore and I see it both ways. When you are fighting with the best of the best, you have to have everything clicking in the right direction. Unfortunately, I have felt that a few things are missing for the last several months.
“Since my new crew chief (Matt Swiderski) came to Trackhouse, he told me a lot of things that he didn’t think were right within the organization and a lot of things that needed to change. I’ve been very vocal that we need to adjust this, we need to adjust that and I’m not the only one seeing it; more people are seeing it. Not a lot of things happen, everything happens so slowly. I don’t think that’s the only reason – I think there are more things – but lately, there have been things that made me feel that I’m not as important.”
Suarez remains confident that he will remain in the Cup Series in 2026. With not many star rides opening, he admits that it would be better if he was a free agent come the 2027 season.
“I have had a lot of conversations with a lot of people,” Suarez noted, though preliminary conversations couldn’t begin until Tuesday. “There is definitely going to be Cup opportunities, we just have to see how it plays out. I believe that if this was happening next year, it was going to be way easier.”
Competing against top-level competition is what motivates Suarez. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion enjoys competing at that level, as it gave him one of the most memorable moments of his career last month in his native Mexico land. But he doesn’t project dropping down a rung on the national series ladder.
“In my mind, I don’t have anything to prove in an Xfinity car,” Suarez said. “It’s an amazing series, I love it but I want to compete with the best of the best. That’s why I wake up every single morning. My goal is to stay with the best of the best in the Cup Series.”
Suarez qualified 18th for Sunday’s Grant Park 165.