NASCAR CUP SERIES
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
JUNE 7, 2025
Daniel Suarez, driver of the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Michigan International Speedway.
I actually bought translation headphones so I can understand next week, but how much of that have you really been helping everyone in real life figure out what’s going on next week?
“In real life, none, really. Only my group of people, you know, my mechanics and stuff.
It’s going to be fun. I give a lot of credit to NASCAR for bringing these kind of ideas, you know, to do. When they came to me and they said – hey, are you up to this idea of teaching a few guys Spanish classes, terms and things like that. At first, I thought — man, I don’t know if this is going to work out. Like, I don’t think this is going to be funny. And honestly, it turned out amazing. I give a lot of credit to NASCAR for trying all these different things. I think people are liking it. Drivers are embracing it. And, obviously, I’m having fun with it. I’m the one teaching the language, so for the first time, I feel like I’m in my zone, so that’s good.”
Obviously, there’s familiarity with the racetrack in New Mexico City, but with the ties with Max, have you talked to him or has he talked to you about that track? I know it’s totally different cars, but I didn’t know if there was any communication in regards to Mexico…
“You know, we have talked about it in the past. He talked to me about how low downforce it is. Obviously, those cars have very low downforce, so how much low downforce they make in Mexico City because of the altitude.
Actually, in Mexico City, they bring the same package as Monaco, which is kind of crazy to me. So we had some of those conversations in the past. And, you know, this is the part that is actually very interesting, is that a lot of people think that I’ve been racing that layout for a very long time. And actually, I’ve never been on that layout in my life. I have won at that race track, but in the overall configuration, never on the road course configuration. I know maybe 50%, maybe 40-50%, of the layout. But the stadium I’ve never been to in my life. Corner four, I’ve never been on.
I think it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a challenge for everyone. And also, you know, something else that I saw is that in Formula 1, through the esses, they go wide open when they’re low on fuel in the soft tire. We’re going in second gear, so it’s quite different. I don’t know if I can get a lot of advice from Max or someone that has run Formula 1 cars there before.”
Obviously the forecast can change, but it looks like rain throughout the next week at Mexico. With all the other challenges, what might that course be like with rain? “Yeah, a few people from Mexico City, they sent me a picture. I would like to show it to you guys because I think it’s very funny. There was a lot of rain, and there is a part of the city that is actually underwater. They have like a big (inaudible) of myself, and I’m underwater. That was very funny.
(showing photo) This is under the tunnel part in Mexico because they had a lot of rain last week. It’s fine now. That was during the rain. But there is a guy there with a little boat, and my face and my car is there. I thought it was very funny.
But anyway, yeah, the forecast can change. Listen, if it rains, obviously it’s a road course, so we’re going to be fine. It’s just one more equation into the race. Regardless of what happens, I think it’s going to be good. We’ll find out, but we’ll be ready. There have been races there in the past with rain, so it should be fine. But hopefully it doesn’t. Hopefully we’re racing in the dry. If it rains, hopefully it’s not a lot. I think the last time I saw the forecast, it was like 50% or something like that. There is a chance that it can go either way.”
(No mic…_)
“Honestly, I have never been in Mexico City where there is that kind of rain. I’m sure it has happened, but I have never seen it. So we’ll see, but I hope not. They knew NASCAR was coming, so they said – hey, let’s throw some rain in there (laughs)”.
What is going to be your number one recommendation for food next week in Mexico?
“You know, actually, what I would like to do for you guys, I would like to put together a list of five places… five good local places for you guys to try. Tacos, I don’t know if you guys are into seafood or not, but there is an area that they do amazing seafood from the coast of Acapulco.
Actually, as soon as I land, I’m going to go there on Tuesday. As soon as I land there, I already talked to Julia, we’re going to go straight to this seafood place. This seafood place there has been around for like 60 years, and they are like the distributors of seafood in a big part of the city. It’s amazing. I’m going to put a list for you guys together, and I will share it with you guys somehow. There is a couple of good taco places around. I’m going to take my team on Thursday night to one of the taco places. So, yeah, there is a few places out there.”
There is a lot of diversity in the Cup Series schedule over the next six weeks – two road courses, a street course, a monster mile, and a hybrid superspeedway. Do you think that those are opportunities for you to not only get a win, but execute yourself as a contender for a championship?
“Yeah, yeah. I think, to be quite honest with you right now, my main focus is in the next two weeks. Like right now, I’m trying not to think about Mexico too much because we’re here in Michigan. We’re far away. But my main focus is in the next two weeks. I know that we race Pocono after Mexico, and after that, I don’t even know what is next. I’ve been so focused in the next few weeks.
So, yeah, we have to just try to think one week at a time. There is definitely a lot of opportunities coming up. We have to take one step at a time and try to execute. I think that as a group at Trackhouse, we’ve been finding more speed lately. That has been shown with the No. 1 car winning in Charlotte. A couple months ago, we were not where we are right now. So definitely, we’re heading in the right direction.”
Next week in Mexico, they’ll have a podium for all the top-three finishers. Obviously that’s something that’s not typically done at Cup and Xfinity. What’s your thoughts about that? If you’re not the winner and if you finish second or third, would that be comfortable to be up there in a situation like that to be so close to winning and not? What would that be like because it’s not the culture in the Cup and Xfinity series?
“Yeah, that’s a very good question. Honestly, when they told me about it a while back, like six months ago at the time they were already considering it, they were not doing it. I thought — man, it could be a good idea. If you think about it, we are pretty much the only sport that does it like this. The Olympics… everything has a podium. Sometimes the culture can be extremely different and I don’t hate it. I just don’t hate it because people are used to doing things a certain way. The promoters, they know what they’re doing. They know what their audience likes. So I don’t hate it, especially because the way that it’s going to be in the middle of the stadium. I think that area is super beautiful. There’s going to be 30,000 people watching the podium.. 15,000 on each side. I think that’s going to be huge. Definitely something different for us. We are going to feel a little bit different. But at the same time, it’s not the first time we’ve done it. Actually, we did it in L.A., at the Coliseum. Just something different. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as something that we have to adapt to a culture that is different to ours.”
(No mic…)
“It all depends how the race goes. It depends how I use my car. If my car was the fastest the entire weekend and I finished second, I’m going to be very pissed off. But if my car was average and I managed and we executed an amazing race and we finished second, it all depends. It all depends.
But overall, listen, I’m super excited, regardless of what happens on Sunday. I’m super excited for the event. I’m super excited to live the moment because the first time is going to only happen once.
I’m really trying to be as present as possible; enjoy the moment and try to execute the best possible weekend that we can. We know that we are capable of winning the race, but that’s not the goal. The goal is the execution of the entire weekend, and hopefully the win is the result of the execution part.”
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