Busy Break: Daniel Suárez got married, raced in Brazil — and now has a new contract with Trackhouse

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Daniel Suárez packed quite a bit into NASCAR’s Olympic break.

He married his longtime girlfriend in Brazil, then raced there a few days later. After all that, his contract extension with Trackhouse Racing was announced this week — although that had been in the works.

“It’s been done for a little while,” Suárez said. “Been a lot going on in my life, career, personal life. We just wanted to wait for the right moment. I didn’t want the contract or anything else to take over what I think was the most important time in my life. That was with Julia in Brazil.”

Suárez married Julia Piquet on July 30 and then competed in the NASCAR Brasil Series’ Special Edition. Now the focus is back on the Cup Series, which races at Richmond on Sunday night. But first came Friday’s announcement that Suárez and Freeway Insurance will return to the No. 99 Chevrolet with Trackhouse in 2025.

So that clears up who Suárez will drive for next year, but there’s still some long-term uncertainty.

“There is a lot of things in the contract that activate longer if we both decided that that’s the right thing to do. There is a lot of things in Trackhouse that are adjusting and changing,” Suárez said Saturday. “Performance-wise, we are not exactly where we want to be — not just in the 99 but in Trackhouse as a company. We have to make sure that we fix that before we want to go any longer. This goes really both ways.”

Suárez earned his second career Cup win in February at Atlanta. He can officially clinch a playoff spot this weekend, but he’s just 17th in the driver standings. Ross Chastain, who races for Trackhouse in the No. 1 car, is on the playoff bubble but on the right side of the cutoff line for now.

“Everyone at Trackhouse Racing is pleased to continue the relationship with Daniel and Freeway Insurance,” owner Justin Marks said. “Daniel has been vital to this team and its culture since the first day.”

Marks’ team, which is co-owned by Grammy winner Pitbull, is in its fourth year competing in the Cup Series. Suárez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a Cup race when he prevailed at Sonoma in 2022, but he went winless last year.

His victory early this season was encouraging, but the 2016 Xfinity champion clearly expects more from himself and his team. He has only one other top-five finish this year.

Suárez portrayed it as a mutual decision to go with a one-year extension.

“I don’t want to run 15. They don’t want to run 15. It’s no secret this year has been a struggle for Trackhouse,” Suárez said. “We have one car in the playoffs that got a win and the other car is on the verge of making it in points. So we have work to do.”

That’s not to say Suárez was in a frustrated mood. The last couple weeks have obviously been memorable for him in a good way, thanks to both his marriage and the racing event in Brazil, which he went out of his way to discuss.

“I saw a NASCAR Brasil race with 40,000 people in the grandstands, and the first thought that came to my mind was what the Cup Series would do here,” Suárez said. “It would be unbelievable.”

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