AUSTIN, Texas – The Circuit of The Americas and the surrounding Austin area hold a special place for Daniel Suárez, who recalls making frequent trips to Texas as he grew up in Monterrey, Mexico. It’s a vibe, from the eclectic mix of the music scene, to the blend of cultures, the paradise for foodies and the gleaming road-racing circuit just south of town that’s a relative newcomer to the stock-car schedule.
“Austin just feels in a couple of different ways, it feels very close to home,” Suárez said Friday morning from the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing hauler in the NASCAR Cup Series garage. He was set later in the day to welcome his mother, sister and a dear friend making the 385-mile drive from his hometown. His own welcome by the track was a little less friendly — Suárez was still drying out in the team’s transporter after the drenching rainstorm that caught him during the morning track walk.
Suárez aims to capitalize on the right-at-home feel in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM), the first road-course race of the 2023 season. He’s also striving to find a measure of redemption from the events of last year’s COTA race, when his early dominance went awry in a Stage 2 spin and an arm-buckling loss of power steering.
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At roughly the same time last year that Suárez exited his No. 99 Chevrolet physically and emotionally spent, his Trackhouse Racing team exploded in jubilation. Teammate Ross Chastain made a triumphant charge through last-lap chaos to notch the first Cup Series win for himself and the still-growing organization, with hugs, high-fives and watermelon shrapnel all around. It was complicated.
“For me, it was one of the most mixed feelings I have had, probably in my racing career ever,” Suárez said. “The most mixed feelings I’ve had because I was so heartbroken for myself because we had such a dominant car, and then we had mechanical issues and all those things. At the same time, I was very happy for Ross and for Trackhouse because it was the first win for Trackhouse, and I was exhausted physically because I didn’t have steering in Stage 3. So I had very mixed feelings after that race, but at the end of the day, I always try to see the positive, the positives that Trackhouse won, the positives that I was very, very fast, and there’s always another chance.”
The plusses that tempered the heartache from last year included a front-row starting spot, 15 laps led and a cruise to the second stage win of his Cup Series career. He entered as a pre-race favorite, and the event proved to be a bellwether for Trackhouse’s power on road courses in the first year with the Next Gen car.
Suárez made good on that performance with his own celebration of a first-time win at Sonoma Raceway later that year. But making his return to COTA has been a sticking point.
“I think that he was proud of the team, but I certainly think that he felt like it was one that got away from him, because he was so fast in qualifying and the first part of the race and felt like he really had control of it,” said Trackhouse founder Justin Marks. “This one has been circled on his calendar ever since then. I don’t need to do much to get him pumped up because he does it himself. But I mean, he’s been really strong on all the road courses, and I think he’s just got a lot of confidence here just because of the speed he’s had here, so I think that was one for him that got away regardless of who won, and he’s pretty motivated to finish the job this weekend.”
Trackhouse prevailed in the first two road-course races of the year last season, and Chevrolet teams won five of the six road races on the Cup Series schedule. The two Trackhouse drivers kept their form in Friday’s practice at COTA, with Chastain third and Suárez fifth on the early speed chart.
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Sunday will show if that trend holds for the third-year Cup Series operation, but Suárez says he expects the competition across the field to be even tighter.
“I think we’re going to be strong, but I also believe that there is going to be more players,” Suárez said. “I feel like everyone’s looking to get better from when we were here last year for the first road-course race for this car, and I felt like we just hit it better than everyone else, and I felt like we were ahead of the group for a little while, but then eventually everyone started catching up. I feel like right now, we’re at the point where I know we’re going to be strong. The question is how strong and who else is going to be in the mix. So I’m not expecting to be the fastest and just manage my gap like I was here in Stage 1, just trying to be smart. I don’t think it’s going to be that way.
“I think the competition is already tougher. I think there’s going to be more players in the mix, and I’m excited for that. I’m excited to compete.”
Suárez said he learned lessons from last year’s trip to COTA, including how much physical fortitude he possessed in managing a 20-turn circuit, lap after lap, with a partial power-steering failure. But he also returns to Austin with more experience and a team that’s grown monumentally since Trackhouse launched as a single-car outfit in 2021.
A win here Sunday would mean a return to the Cup Series Playoffs for the 31-year-old driver, who is in his seventh season in NASCAR’s top division. It would also check one of the prime goals that the No. 99 group set before the season started.
“You know, we have goals and we want to win races and we want to be able to compete for a championship. Everyone’s gonna say that, right? How real is that? I think that’s the question,” Suárez says. “I think the 99 team is faster than last year. We have shown that there is room for improvement still. We continue to get better, we have had a few mistakes here and there. I have had a few mistakes here and there as well, but my team for this 2023 season is just better, stronger, faster, smarter, with more experience. So I’m very, very excited to see what we can do this year.”