Suarez could become Mexican face of NASCAR
Since Jeff Gordon announced in January this would be his final NASCAR season, much was made about how he opened up the sport to the country beyond the South.
But he didn’t open up other countries for NASCAR.
That could fall to Daniel Suarez.
He is not only a promising young driver, but Suarez is from Monterrey, Mexico. Should he deliver on his potential and become a force in NASCAR, that could create a market in the country of about 120 million people.
It’s a lot of pressure to put on the shoulders of a 23-year-old Xfinity Series rookie — Suarez will race in the Boyd Gaming 300 at 1 p.m. Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — but he didn’t seem concerned.
“I really feel lucky because three years ago when I moved to the States, a lot of people in Mexico told me that it was the wrong move because they said NASCAR was more for drivers in America,” he said. “To be honest, once I moved to … North Carolina, it was unbelievable how much support I have from NASCAR. I really feel like I have more support than the regular drivers … from America.”
Suarez is with a big-time team, driving the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. That alone shows the expectations he brings to Xfinity, the belief he isn’t far from competing in the Sprint Cup Series.
He dominated in Mexico last season, winning five of 15 races and finishing in the top five seven times in the NASCAR Toyota Series. Suarez also competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, winning twice in 13 starts with four top-five finishes and seven in the top 10.
This season, Suarez is racing a full schedule in the Xfinity Series and competing in 13 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. He also is scheduled to race in three ARCA events.
He was second in the ARCA race two weeks ago at Daytona Beach, Fla., ninth in the Truck event and 39th in the Xfinity race. Suarez improved last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a fourth-place showing in Truck and 14th in Xfinity.
“The most important thing is to learn,” Suarez said. “In two (Xfinity) races in 2015, I’ve learned already more than the whole of 2014.”
Suarez stumbled into motor sports as an 11-year-old because a friend competed in go-karts. He took up the sport himself and found early success.
That later led to stock cars, and Suarez continued to win and work his way through the ranks, grabbing the attention of NASCAR in the United States. He moved to North Carolina in 2012 to begin racing in the K&N Pro Series East.
“When I went to North Carolina, the challenge was bigger,” Suarez said. “The challenge was more difficult. The competition was more difficult. Everything started to get more complicated.”
His transition was even more demanding because Suarez didn’t speak English at the time.
“I just (couldn’t) communicate with my team, with the media, with everyone in the sport.” he said. “Everything’s going to be just waste, so at one point I was working harder to learn the language than how to drive.”
He finally felt comfortable speaking English after a year and a half, but hasn’t developed a Southern accent even after three years of living in North Carolina.
Southern accents, of course, aren’t developed. People have them or they don’t.
It’s similar in sports. Some athletes have it or they don’t, and Suarez’s talent seldom has been questioned, and now that he’s stepping up to a level just below Sprint Cup, the expectations rise right along with such a move.
But this was why he came to the U.S., to get this kind of opportunity.
“You want to do your racing career in NASCAR in the United States,” Suarez said. “You can learn a few things in Mexico, but the majority of the things that you have to learn is in the States.
“I believe that when I moved to the States, it was the most important step of my racing career. Maybe the most difficult step, but without doing that step, maybe all this (attention) wouldn’t happen.”
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.
