Daniel Suárez on NASCAR in Mexico City, the expansion push and more: 12 Questions

New York Times

11-06-2025

Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suárez, who heads to his home country of Mexico this week for NASCAR's inaugural Cup Series race in Mexico City. This interview has been edited and condensed, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.
1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid and what do you remember about that moment?
I cannot remember my first autograph, but I do remember being at school practicing my signature. I was racing go-karts at the time and nobody had ever asked me for my autograph. But I remember practicing my signature.
My number growing up was No. 4. And in my signature, I included the number. And I guarantee you that 99 percent of people can't even see it and can't even tell, but in my signature, there is a number four. That's been my thing since I was probably 12 years old. I was in school practicing my signatures and I had pages and pages.
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2. What is the most miserable you've ever been inside of a race car?
In 2022, at the Roval, when my steering rack broke. We were in the playoffs and everything was looking very good to transfer in the Round of 12. I learned there are different levels of steering going away. I have experienced a couple of those levels. But the one I had at the Roval, it was nearly impossible to drive, and that was by far the most miserable I have been.
My hands were destroyed. The gloves didn't even work anymore because the whole fabric was almost like a tortilla, like a little roll.
3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of something you got way too competitive about?
You know the game Phase 10, with cards? My family was just in town for the Coke 600 with my best friend and a few people. Everything is about what kind of cards you get. I would say it's 90 percent luck.
And man, I was having a rough night. So I started cheating, and then I started winning, and then I got caught, and then they were checking me and I was trying to do business with the person that was around me.
I'm competing with everything I do. (Wife) Julia will tell you that sometimes she gets annoyed because everything I do, I try to convert it into a competition.
4. What do people get wrong about you?
A handful of years ago, they thought I was coming from family money. Now people have seen a little bit more of my story and my background. That bothered me, because I actually wish those people who thought I was growing up in a family with a lot of money got to see a little bit of where I grew up. That's the one thing I'm 100 percent sure of: Nobody here in the garage had it as rough as I had it growing up. It was different and difficult.
5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating?
For some reason, my Uber rating is actually pretty good, but I don't use it a lot. Most of the time we use (Julia's). I don't really care about it too much, to be honest; Julia does care. I'm very easygoing when it comes to that. Sometimes I get drivers who are extremely cautious, and when they are extremely cautious, I just make fun of the situation, especially if I'm with Julia.
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6. This is a wild-card question where I'm mixing it up for each person. With the Mexico City race coming up, there's going to be so much pressure on you, and you are the face of the race. Not only is there pressure on you in terms of people watching to see how you'll perform, but you're being asked to do so many things – interviews and appearances and publicizing all this stuff. When we get there, how are you going to balance getting the rest you need and having the preparation you need to focus on your race while also trying to help the race as a whole?
It's a tricky balance. I've been hoping for this moment to come for years, since I won the championship in Xfinity almost 10 years ago (in 2016). And now we are here. It's not just a very special moment for myself, but also for the sport, for the industry. Obviously, I'm very proud of being part of this race, of this event. I'm very proud of bringing you guys in the media, the teams and the drivers to my home to teach you a little bit about myself and about my culture. So I'm extremely proud, and I've been working very hard to make sure this event is going to be extremely successful.
With that being said, once we get to Friday, it's time to be selfish because I want to be the best version of myself, and I know we can win the race. But for that, I have to execute everything right, and I have to be on my game. So I'm going to be traveling to Mexico City very early, way earlier than normal (he flew Tuesday), so I can acclimate with the altitude, I can start training a little bit and then do a lot of media activities I have to do. And once Friday starts, I have to slow down because I have to focus on racing.
7. This is my 16th year of doing these 12 Questions interviews, so I've been going back to an earlier one to see how your answer compares. The first time we did this was 2015, so 10 years ago. At the time, I asked you if you've ever been mistaken for another driver. You said no. In the decade since then, do you get confused for someone else?
It doesn't happen often at all. But someone a few months ago called me Alex Bowman. I was like, 'What the heck, man? I think I'm way better looking than him!' (Laughs.) Maybe we had similarly-colored paint schemes that weekend. They were like, 'Alex! Alex!' I said, 'I'm Daniel.'
8. Other than one of your teammates, name a driver who you would be one of the first people to congratulate them in victory lane if they won a race.
Bubba Wallace, (Ryan) Blaney or Chase (Elliott) because I have known those guys for a very long time. When I won my first race, it was very meaningful to me, and all those guys showed up. They knew it was special for me.
Most of the time when you get beat at the racetrack, you're not super happy. It's very rare when somebody is happy for someone else, like genuinely. And those guys were very happy for me. So that means a lot.
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9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your job or your daily life?
I have never used it, actually. I tried once with my engineer. We were just messing around and did 'Draw Daniel Suárez, race car driver, with a sombrero and eating a taco.' And 'now put him in a race car.' But I didn't even do it (myself); he was doing it with me.
10. What is a time in your life you felt was really challenging, but you are proud of the way you responded to it?
That's a very easy question for me. In 2011, I came to the United States and I didn't have anything. I was living with friends of friends, and I couldn't even rent an apartment because I didn't have Social Security and I didn't speak English. Somebody asked me, 'Hey, what has been the biggest challenge in your racing career?' And they didn't believe me when I said to them, 'learning English.' I'm being serious. I've had a lot of very, very big challenges, but learning English was the one challenge where I was a little bit scared. … I knew I didn't want the language to be the reason why I wasn't going to have a real shot at it.
11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take this sport to the next level of popularity?
The first thing is we have to continue to get to know the drivers in a personal way. The Netflix show 'Full Speed' is a great way to get to know drivers on a personal level. I personally have learned a lot about all the drivers just from watching this show. A lot of fans know who I am as a driver, but they don't know who I am as a person.
And also for drivers to be authentic. I wish sometimes NASCAR let us open up a little bit more (without) the fines and all the different things. If you're aggressive and you want to show your emotions, show it. If you want to say something on the radio, say it. I don't want drivers to be too vanilla. I wish we could be allowed a little bit more to show whatever we're thinking or our emotions.
The second thing is … the sport is very big internationally. Having a wife from Brazil, me being from Mexico and I have spent a lot of time in Europe. There are a lot of NASCAR fans around the world, and NASCAR obviously is working very hard on this. But we have to continue that path, because there is just a lot of opportunity.
Obviously, the United States is our main market, and that's going to continue to be the main market forever. With that being said, there are opportunities to continue to grow south of the border, like we're doing with Mexico. In South America — Brazil and Argentina — you have no idea how big motorsports are down there. It's huge. The race in Mexico is going to be the beginning of a lot more things internationally, hopefully.
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person, the last one was with Corey Heim. He says (of you): 'Aside from Trackhouse, he's never been able to settle into a groove with one team. He was with the Xfinity team with Gibbs for one year, won the championship, went Cup racing probably prematurely (when Carl Edwards suddenly retired). Once he was getting in his groove (in Cup with Gibbs), he's out the door going to Haas, and then once he was getting his groove there, he's out the door with the next move. What's it been like to have to readjust constantly every year versus being comfortable and finding his groove at Trackhouse?'
Once I went to the Xfinity Series, I felt like I had (a) home and I was able to hit home runs fairly early in my career. Once I went to the Cup Series, it was a completely different game. I started to realize talent wasn't just going to do it (alone); it was going to require way more than that. It's going to require preparation. It's going to require the group of people around you. It's going to require a group of people trying to push you to go to the next level.
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I struggled with that. I really struggled to find that home, to find that group of people, that group of leaders in the company. I'm not saying they didn't want me to be successful, but when you have an organization that has several teams, sometimes you have priorities. You have sponsors, and it's a business, right? Unfortunately, I felt like I was always on the short end of the stick until I came to Trackhouse.
At Trackhouse, we still obviously have work to do. We want to continue to build this place to be a consistent contender, a team that can be fighting on a weekly basis with the big teams — Penske, Hendrick and Gibbs. Hopefully, definitely I have found a home here. Hopefully, we can continue to build this, to continue to bring Trackhouse to the next level.
The next interview is with Christopher Bell. Do you have a question I can ask him?
How many dirt races are you doing this year? Do you think it helps you for the Cup races, or is it just something (you've loved) doing since you were younger?
(Top photo of Daniel Suárez at last month's All-Star Race: James Gilbert / Getty Images)