Daniel Suarez 1-on-1: On fighting for the playoffs, his relationship with Pitbull

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Daniel Suarez can’t seem to avoid the pressure. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion, Suarez has driven for four different Cup teams in his seven seasons.

He is in his third year driving for Trackhouse and appears to finally have found stability. He earned his first (and so far only) Cup win last year at Sonoma Raceway. 

Suarez has three top-5 finishes this year, including a third-place finish Sunday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. But he currently is on the outside looking in of the playoff cutoff — albeit by just 28 points. He needs to win this weekend at Watkins Glen or next week at Daytona to guarantee a playoff berth, although he potentially could rally and make it on points if several things fall his way.

Suarez, the only Mexican-born Cup race winner and only Mexican to win a championship in one of NASCAR’s three national series, can lean on his past experiences to handle the pressure. 

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The 31-year-old driver from Monterrey spoke to FOX Sports last week prior to the Indianapolis race about this season, the task at hand, his racing journey, having entertainer Pitbull as a co-owner of the team and the movies that helped him learn English when he first came to race in the United States.

How would you describe the season so far?

The season isn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting more. I was expecting more consistency. I was expecting a little more speed, especially in the middle part of the year. And more wins, to be honest. But it is too early to be disappointed. We still have a lot of races to go and a lot of things to accomplish. And I believe that we can turn things around. Right now, we are in a very unique position. And I think we’re in a pretty good position to make a season to be proud of.

How have you been balancing this whole points versus wins heading into Indy last week?

At the end of the day, I have to just do my race. I can’t be conservative, I can’t be over-aggressive. I have to just do my race, just like I will have done two months ago or maybe next month. I just have to continue to take care of what I can control and move forward. I think that these next races that we have, I think that we’re going to have huge opportunities. And we have to take advantage of that. I think that we’re in a very good position to be able to make it.

Watkins Glen and Daytona coming up to the end of the regular season. How do you feel about those tracks? 

Daytona, anything can happen. Daytona, it can go either way. In the past, it’s been very good to us and in the past, it’s also been tough to us. It can go either way. But definitely at Watkins Glen, I see a racetrack of opportunities. We can go out there and for sure be in the top-5, hopefully fighting for the win. And if we don’t win, we can have a very, very solid points day. I just see that as a very positive race to be right before the beginning of the playoffs.

Watkins Glen, you got a top-5 in your first Cup race there. So it looks like it’s been a place that’s been good to you?

Definitely, Watkins Glen has been a good place to me. We have had a few top-fives there — never the win, but top-fives and it would be nice to get a win. But I wouldn’t be disappointed with another top-5.

There could be the argument made that you shouldn’t even be here after being let go by Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing and then racing for the Gaunt Brothers. To be in this position, I don’t know whether you look at it as being surreal or the way it should have happened. How do you look at your journey?

It’s been definitely a roller-coaster, I would call it, but that’s part of life. It isn’t the first time I’ve been in a tough situation in my career. I’ve been in that situation a few times in my career in Mexico and also coming here in that transition from Mexico to the United States. I’m not new in being against the wall. And, actually, I believe that I perform pretty well when people put me against the wall. Thanks to all these different scenarios, these different situations, I have learned so much and I’ve been becoming a better person, a better race-car driver as well. 

So right now, I’m happy where I am obviously, but I’m not satisfied. I feel like the 99 team is a strong team, but I want this team to be even stronger. I want this team not to be even thinking about are we in the playoffs? I want this team to be one of those teams that people get bored of winning too much, that it’s no surprise of seeing this team winning again and again. That’s my goal. And I know that with a lot of work, we’re going to be able to accomplish that.

What’s been the most dynamic thing about having Pitbull as your co-owner and being able to interact with him?

Pitbull is definitely a special individual. Believe it or not, we have a few things in common other than being Latinos. But also the fact that we came from nothing. I came from a very humble family. And for me to be a professional race-car driver was — the percentage of me making it, it was very, very low, as it was for Pitbull. We have had a lot of conversations on this and for me, to have Pitbull as my owner, we are, I will say, the only dual Latino like this in the entire sport. 

So it’s quite special. It’s very special to know that this guy has my mentality, and he is in my corner and he provides so much support for everyone at Trackhouse and especially to me. The fact that we can communicate in a different language, that makes things a little bit special, a little bit more unique, more personal. I feel very fortunate to have him on my car.

When you guys communicate, do you communicate in Spanish or English?

It’s in Spanish. Those are things that are natural. Spanish, obviously, is my first language. And I will say that for Pitbull, Spanish is his first language. And then his second language is Spanglish with the way that he sings. He’s great. I feel very, very blessed to be in this position. I believe that we have an amazing future ahead of us.

You often tell us a story about learning English by watching TV, cartoons and movies. Is there any of them that you still watch? Like, if one comes on now that really helped you learn the language, that you would still watch just because you enjoy watching it?

“Gone In 60 Seconds.” I love that movie so much. Whatever you want to know about that movie, I can tell you because I’ve watched it like 30 times. I love “Cars,” obviously, that movie is about cars, as well as the movie with Sylvester Stallone — “Driven” — the IndyCar movie. Those two movies actually I watched 30 times with subtitles in Spanish, in English, or whatever language you want. It was quite fun. I was watching the movies over and over again.

“Driven” got pretty much panned as not a great movie.

I didn’t know that [then]. I was very proud of my movie with Sylvester Stallone and they were making fun of it. I was like, “I don’t know about you guys because I enjoy it.” I actually believe that the coin thing is real.

What To Watch For

Just like all the races near the end of the year, the playoff bubble makes things quite interesting.

Chase Elliott, coming off a second-place finish at Indianapolis, has finishes of first, first, second and fourth in the past four years at the track. He has led 170 laps in those four events. Some would argue that his fourth-place finish last year should have been a win, but Elliott was forced off-track by teammate Kyle Larson on the final restart.

Suarez, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs have all shown prowess on road courses as well and can’t be counted out. Allmendinger won the 2014 Cup race at the Glen.

As far as the race itself, watch Turn 1 as drivers fan out during that turn, and it can get quite physical. 

Thinking Out Loud

While it is certainly possible there will be two new winners in the next two races, this season’s M.O. of a mix of repeat winners and new winners has me thinking there will be at most one new winner at The Glen and Daytona.

Certainly, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski would like that. One new winner locks both of them in the playoffs. They aren’t “safe” but a lot would have to happen for them not to get into the postseason.

So who would fill that last spot? I think it comes down to Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace — Suarez has a shot to win at the Glen and Wallace has a shot at Daytona. Suarez likely would have more Chevrolets to work with at Daytona than Wallace has Toyotas to score points if need be. 

Right now, I’d give the nod to Wallace. His organization has been consistently stronger throughout the year.

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They Said It

“I was definitely trying as hard as I can try. I just need to do a better job. … You’ve got to be fast to have a shot to win. That was good. Just need to be a little bit better.” —Chase Elliott after his runner-up finish at Indianapolis

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.

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