FANTASY NASCAR Racin

a Mexican professional stock car racing driver. A native of Monterrey in Nuevo León, Suárez began his racing career in karting in 2002. In 2007 he won the class championship. In 2008 he moved to the preliminary category of NASCAR Mexico, Mini-Stocks, where he became the youngest driver to win a race in the series. He moved to the NASCAR Mexico Series in 2010, driving for Telcel Racing; despite running only a partial season, he won the series' Rookie of the Year title. In 2011, Suárez participated in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway, finishing in 11th, the highest-finishing Mexican driver in the event. In the 2011 NASCAR Mexico Series, he finished the season with three poles and a podium, finishing ninth in the standings. At the same time, he participated in 7 races of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. In 2012, he alternated his time between the Mexico Series and K&N Pro Series East. Suárez competed for the full season in the K&N Pro Series East in 2013, driving a Toyota for Rev Racing. He saw his first

victory in the series at Columbus Motor Speedway, also recorded six top-5 and nine top-ten finishes on his way to third in the championship standings. Meanwhile, he finished runner-up of the NASCAR Toyota Series achieved 3 wins and five podium finishes in the season. Suárez was also named to NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program during the 2013 season. In 2014, Suárez returned to the K&N East and Toyota Series, winning the first two K&N East and first Toyota Series races of the season. In April, he was selected by Joe Gibbs Racing to make his debut in the Xfinity Series at Richmond International Raceway, driving the team's #20 Toyota; he finished 19th. In August 2014, it was announced that Suárez would compete full-time in

the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series in the #18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, and that he would also run a partial schedule in the 2015 NASCAR Truck Series in the #51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. In October of that year Suarez made his first Truck series start driving the #35 Arris Toyota. On July 4, 2015, Suárez won the pole for the Xfinity Series Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona, his first career pole in the series. Suarez would go on to win 2 more poles at Iowa and Kentucky, and won his first ARCA pole at Kansas. Suarez went on to win the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie of the year title edging Darrell Wallace Jr. for the award by one single top ten finish in statistics.

In 2016, Suárez's car number in the Xfinity Series was switched to #19. He won his first Xfinity Series race at Michigan, by passing Kyle Busch on the last lap, becoming the first Mexican-born driver to win in a NASCAR national touring series. Suárez won his second Xfinity Series race during the Round of 12 in the Chase at Dover in October. With this win, he would advance to the Round of 8. In November, Suárez won his first Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix, taking the lead late in the race after William Byron lost an engine. In the season-ending Xfinity Series race at Homestead, Suarez dominated the race and took the lead on the final restart with two laps to go to

score his first Xfinity Series championship. Suárez became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series championship. For 2017 Suarez was all set to run full time in the Xfinity series once again driving the #19 Arris car; but unexpectedly on January 10th of 2017 CUP driver Carl Edwards announced his immediate retirement from racing; and Suarez was moved up to run the car in the CUP series. It didn't take long before Suarez showed he could race with the big boys. Even though he was rushed up to the Cup Series; he proved to be a quick learner. Every event, he improved as the races progressed. He posted his first Top 10 finish in just the fifth race of the season posting a seventh at Phoenix; and followed that up the next week at Texas with another

seventh place finish. His best finish of the season was a third at Watkins Glen; and was close to making the Chase. He posted 12 Top 10 finishes for the year and was rookie of the race 14 times. Erik Jones just edged out Suarez for Rookie of the Year honors. For 2018 Suarez returned to JGR. Suarez had a better season in than he did his rookie season, but it still wasn't anything spectacular. He only posted three Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10's. He only fell out of three events; he just couldn't quite manage to help the car be competitive. 17 of the 36 races he finished at least one lap down. His best weekend came at Pocono where he won the pole and recorded his season best finish of second. When Barney Visser decided to close down the

Furniture Row team; Martin Truex became available to drive. Gibbs hired Truex to replace Suarez in the #19 car. Suarez was hired by Stewart-Haas Racing to drive the #41 car that Kurt Busch departed when he went to drive for Chip Ganassi. In addition, Suárez brought in Arris to sponsor the team. He only had one Top 5 and three Top 10 finishes through the first 13 races of the season. Things improved somewhat after that, but he never could seem to run up front for the win. His season's best finish was a third (Texas; both races) and he had only four Top 5 and eleven Top 10 for the entire season. Needless to say the Stewart-Haas team expected more than that from their

young driver and Xfinity Champion. Suarez failed to make the play offs and could only muster a 17th place finish in the points. In November it was announced that Stewart-Haas would not renew his contract and Suarez was let go. Cole Custer moved up from the Xfinity Series to wheel the #41 in 2020. Suarez found a ride in 2020 driving for the underfunded team; the Gaunt Brothers. This teams equipment couldn't match Suarez's talent and he saw a big step backwards in his finish results. He didn't post a single top ten all season; and his best finish was 18th at Bristol and Kansas. He informed the team he would not be returning for 2021, and was tabbed to be the driver of the

new team TrackHouse racing and drive the #99. Thoughts are the team will try to gel and learn the ropes in 2021 and then be ready to be competitive when the new NextGen car is used in 2022. The team showed some growing pains in their first year; but they had no great expectations for 2020 and they planned to use it as a building year to get ready for the new NextGen cars that was introduced in 2022. Suarez had a Top 5 finish at Bristol on the dirt. He posted four Top 10 finishes. The team is anxious for 2022 to roll in, knowing that the new cars will put most of the teams on an even playing field. They made a big move as they purchased the assets of Chip Ganassi Racing in the middle of 2021; and also the Charters. Ganassi was stepping away from NASCAR racing after 21 years and it was a big surprise from out of left field. Track House picked up

Ganassi driver Ross Chastain as they increase to a two car team. As Suárez returned to TrackHouse for the 2022 season he kicked off the season in an up and down fashion. He finished 18th at Daytona; but had a great fourth place run the next week at Fontana. The next week he crashed out finishing 37th; but again bounced back with a ninth place run at Phoenix; and another fourth place finish coming at Atlanta. The team was expected to run well on the road course at COTA; and he did, leading every lap of stage one. He got spun out on the restart and spent the rest of the race trying to recover his track position, eventually finishing 24th. His Track House team mate, Ross Chastain, went on to win at COTA, getting Track House

their first ever Cup win. Suarez didn't make any impressive runs over the next ten races; posting only one top ten finish. The Cup series went west to race at Sonoma and once again Suarez was strong on the road course. He led a race high 47 laps; and grabbed his first career Cup win. After a 15th place run at Nashville; he had four races in a row with no finish worse than ninth; including a fifth at Elkhart Lake. He posted another top five run when they raced at Watkins Glen. With his win he was locked into the Chase. He advanced through the first round of the Chase; but was eliminated before the round of eight. He went on

to finish tenth in the 2022 points. In November; Suarez proposed to his long time girlfriend Julia Piquet. She is the daughter of Nelson Piquet; three time Formula 1 world champion. Suarez was back with Track House in 2023 looking to show even more improvement, and the season started out well. He posted a seventh place finish at Daytona, and added a fourth at Fontana and a tenth at Las Vegas. Things were looking bright. Then things took a down turn. Five races in a row the team couldn’t finish any better than 22nd. His next top ten didn’t come until Talladega where he finished ninth.

Then it was five races before he posted a top ten again. His first really good run came when the Cup series went to Atlanta for the second time. William Byron held off Suarez to claim the win, with Suarez second. He would only have one more top five finish the rest of the year, coming at the road course at Indy. Suarez missed making the playoffs, and finished 19th in points. He only had three top fives and ten top tens on the year. He made an Xfinity series start at Sonoma where he started 17th and finished 27th. He also made a start at Pocono where he finished tenth. With a guy like Suarez who is supposed to be a road course specialist, and so many young up and coming drivers

waiting in the wings, we are hearing rumors that Suarez will have to up his game or risk losing his seat. Of the six road races in 2023; he finished second at Indy and the other starts he was 22nd or worse. He’ll was in the #99 with Track House in 2024. After going winless in 2023, Suarez felt he had something to prove, and to get back in victory lane. At the season opening Daytona 500; Suarez ran great, Scoring points in both stages; even finishing third in Stage 2. He was leading with just 13 laps to go, but got caught up in "the big one"; killed the car and finished in 34th. He had another great run the next week when they raced at Atlanta. He started 23rd after a poor

qualifying run, but worked his way through the field. By the end of Stage 2 he was running fourth. The trio of Suarez, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch battled hammer and tong the final 30 laps of the race, exchanging the lead back and forth. The race saw things tighten up even more when Josh Berry, Chase Elliott and Carson Hocevar tangled on the back straight with just ten laps to go. On the restart with five laps to go; Blaney jumped to the lead and managed to hold off the snarling pack right behind. Blaney and Suarez battled coming through the final corners as Busch jumped in the middle to try and bypass both of them. At the line it was three wide and a photo finish. Suarez, Blaney and Busch were all side by side, and the pictures showed that Suarez won, by a mere .003 over the other two. Blaney was officially given second and Busch third. It was the closest three wide finish in NASCAR history. Suarez used the win to grab some momentum and finished 11th at Las Vegas and 13th at Phoenix. Things cooled a bit with finishes in the low-20s, but he had another good run at Texas when he finished fifth. Again he had a stretch where he finished in the 20's, before he had another top ten finish when he was ninth at Iowa. As the regular season wrapped up; he put together some good runs with three top tens and an 11th in a five race span. At Daytona he ran well again, but the car caught on fire unexpectedly after only 37 laps. He had to bail out, and finished 40th. When the play-offs started he almost won again at Atlanta. He was leading with just two laps to go, but Joey Logano battled by to get the win and advance to the next round in the Chase. He was 13th at Watkins Glen and able to advance to the Round of 12. In that round, he was 13th at Kansas, but poor finishes at Talladega (26th) and the Roval (30th), saw him eliminated from the Chase. Suarez finished third at Las Vegas and closed the season with a tenth place finish at Phoenix. Suarez also made two starts in the Xfinity Series. One start came as the season opened at Daytona. Like in the Cup Series, he was involved in a crash and eliminated. He also raced on the streets of Chicago where he started 31st; but he never challenged for the lead, and finished 27th. Suarez will be back behind the wheel of the #99 for Track House Racing in 2025. Some info from Wikipedia

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

DANIEL ALEJANDRO SUAREZ GARZA - 01/07/1992