Several days after Trackhouse Racing announced plans to part ways with Daniel Suarez after the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, team owner Justin Marks provided some additional insight into the decision.
Clearly, the organization — which has captured a total of three Cup Series wins this season between drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain — expected more from its most tenured wheelman.
After watching van Gisbergen sweep the weekend at the Chicago Street Course, winning both the pole and the race for the Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, Marks reflected a bit on why the company is opting to sever ties with Suarez.
Justin Marks On Daniel Suarez: ‘It Was Time To Move On’
Asked by a reporter at the Chicago Street Course why Daniel Suarez’s run with Trackhouse Racing is coming to a close at five years, team owner Justin Marks very much tiptoed around the question.
This much is evident, though: Marks believes the change is necessary.
It’s also clear that Marks is not second-guessing his decision to move in a different direction with the organization’s No. 99 Chevrolet.
“Look, Daniel has been a huge part of this company for four-and-a-half years now,” Marks said. “When we sat down and … kind of mapped out our three-year and our five-year plan and the sponsorships and everything that we’re trying to accomplish over the next five years of the company, we just got to a point where we felt like that relationship had borne a lot of fruit for us but it was time to move on.
“As we grow and as the team grows, obviously, we have to identify different opportunities.”
Undoubtedly, Suarez’s 2025 outcomes — no wins in 18 starts at the time the team announced its intentions to let him go — didn’t do much to build a case that he deserved another year. That’s especially true when juxtaposing his stats with the success of teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen, who are both likely playoff-bound.
As for why Suarez hasn’t delivered this year, especially relative to his teammates, Marks seemed reluctant to speculate or offer an opinion.
“As far as results, I don’t know,” he said.
Lame-Duck Driver And Trackhouse Racing Owner Remain Friendly And Cordial
Based on the post-race comments from Justin Marks on Sunday at the Chicago Street Course, it seems that he and Daniel Suarez are still on good terms.
“Daniel has been a huge part of this company and a great friend of mine,” Marks said. “We met last night, me and him, in the hotel for an hour down in the lobby. We just talked about our time together, everything that we’ve accomplished together.
“He and I are in a really good place.”
Along with not having the type of 2025 season he wanted at Trackhouse, Suarez has not been able to enjoy consistent success since joining the company in 2021. He does, however, own a pair of playoff-clinching Cup Series victories with the organization.
Perhaps more importantly, though, he has made NASCAR history during his time with Trackhouse. It happened in 2022 when he became the first native of Mexico to prevail in a NASCAR Cup Series race — which he did in grandiose fashion on the Sonoma Raceway road course.
In 2022 at Sonoma, Daniel Suarez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Hearing Tony Rivera call him home was something special. pic.twitter.com/2V3cTQeZ2j
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 6, 2024
The series will be back there this weekend, with Suarez looking to recapture the magic from three years ago. Marks will certainly be rooting Suarez on, all while keeping an eye on a future beyond 2025 that will involve hiring a new driver for the No. 99 car.
“This isn’t a sport where you do the same thing forever,” Marks said. “As we grow, we just felt like it was time to wrap up that relationship and work to try to help him to find the next opportunity but continue to grow as a company what we’re trying to accomplish.”
