Suarez, 30, earned his first Cup win in his 195th profession begin on Sunday at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, changing into the primary Mexican driver to win within the sequence since its inception in 1949.
Suarez’s victory was additionally the third in lower than two seasons for Trackhouse Racing, which is co-owned by Marks, a former driver, and Grammy award-winning rapper Pitbull.
“We’ve an amazing tradition at Trackhouse. Daniel checked a number of bins for us straight away,” Marks stated. “He’s an skilled Cup driver. He’s a winner. When he’s been in positions to win, he’s received together with his Xfinity championship and in Vehicles.
“He had a chip on his shoulder. He needed to show to the world he belonged within the Cup Collection.”
Suarez debuted in NASCAR competitors in his native Mexico in 2009 and have become the primary Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR nationwide sequence race in 2016 together with his Xfinity Collection victory at Michigan. He went on to win the sequence championship that season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
His NASCAR future appeared on a quick observe.
Nonetheless, simply as Suarez was about to embark on a second season in Xfinity, Carl Edwards abruptly left NASCAR, leaving JGR with a Cup experience to fill for the 2017 season. The group turned to Suarez as Edwards’ alternative.
Though there have been loads of flashes of potential, Suarez by no means appeared to seek out the identical success in Cup, whether or not it was at JGR, Stewart-Haas Racing or Gaunt Brothers Racing.
When Marks introduced the formation of Trackhouse within the fall of 2020, Suarez was his alternative because the workforce’s first driver.
“He checked all of the bins for us and I knew he had an incredible quantity of potential, that he was a winner at this degree,” Marks stated. “I advised him from day one, ‘That is your workforce, this No. 99 workforce is your workforce. You come to me and inform me something and the whole lot that you simply want. We’re going to place that behind you.’
“It’s very nice to see all that work during the last couple of years be at a spot the place everyone is rewarded for it.”
Requested if he thought Suarez had grow to be discouraged and doubted his potential by the point he joined Trackhouse, Marks stated, “Not for one second. Not for one second ever. I’ve virtually by no means met a extra decided, centered, hard-working race automotive driver in my 20 years on this sport.
“Each single morning he wakes up and says, ‘I’m going to be the most effective model of myself I could be at this time, I’m going to do all of the work I can probably do at this time to win this race this weekend.’
“It’s wonderful how constant he’s, how that continues, that fireside continues to burn so vivid even after stringing quite a few powerful races in a row collectively. He’s simply very, very spectacular in that regard.”
Suarez’s crew chief on the No. 99, Travis Mack, stated he noticed one thing comparable when the 2 had been first paired collectively final season.
“As soon as I met with him, I might see the drive in his face, in his eyes. As soon as we began changing into buddies and speaking to one another, I might see how laborious he was working,” he stated.
“He needed this so unhealthy. I used to be the identical means.”
