Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Richmond Advance

Daniel Suárez recalls one of his earliest racing memories of watching Mexican racing star Adrian Fernandez driving in the CART INDYCAR Series in the 1990s – 2000s.

Fernandez sported the green, white and red Mexican national colors on his uniform and helmet during an 11-year career that saw him win eight races.

Notably, Fernandez wore Quaker State colors for years, a brand Suárez says is associated with Mexican race car drivers

“As a young kid from Monterrey, Mexico I remember my very first professional race that I actually attended I was watching my, now good friend, Adrian Fernandez in the Indycar Series,” recalled Suárez.

“He was sponsored by Quaker State for a very long part of his career. I remember thinking what a cool brand Quaker State is. If you have ever been in Mexico, you know just about everything connected with cars and car shops and stuff like that has a Quaker State sign or decal somewhere.”

Adrian Fernandez

Suárez not only became friends with Fernandez, who drove in 10 NASCAR Xfinity Series races for Hendrick Motorsports in the mid-2000s, but will now join the Quaker State club this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series races at Richmond Raceway.

For the first time this season, Suárez will sport the Quaker State colors on on his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet when he races at Richmond and again July 9 at the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Quaker State will have branding on both Suárez and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain’s cars and driver uniforms throughout the 2023 season. Quaker State is also embarking on a technical alliance with Trackhouse Racing.

“Quaker State is everywhere in Mexico and is the brand everyone in Mexico trusts,” Suárez said. “I feel so blessed now to be able to carry those Quaker State colors just like Adrian used to do.”

The Quaker State brand also has a long history with NASCAR and has enjoyed unprecedented success with some of its top race teams. Quaker State motor oil has been in NASCAR drivers’ engines for more than 7 million on-track miles, and more than 170 victories by some of the most-recognized drivers. Quaker State motor oils have helped deliver championships at each of the three levels of NASCAR, including 10 NASCAR Cup Series Championships.

Suárez hopes he can add his name to that list beginning Sunday in Richmond. He needs a good finish after the last two weeks at Atlanta and Circuit of the Americas saw accidents end top 10 runs.

Fox Sports 1 will air Sunday’s race at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

 

Meet Daniel Suárez & See the No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet

Saturday 5 p.m.

Walmart Supercenter #1525

7430 Bell Creek Rd 

Mechanicsville, Virginia 23111

 
 
 

2023 Standings

 

Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet

 

How do you stay positive in times of frustration?

“I try to remind myself why I’m here. I’m here because I love racing. I’m here because I love to compete and I like to win. Everything else comes as a consequence. I feel grateful to be here. When you’re in a rhythm, like I was talking about not long ago, it’s easy to take it for granted what we do every single weekend. We are very lucky individuals that we get to do every single weekend what we love to do – drive racecars and compete. Every single driver here is very, very competitive. It’s something we just love. Just because of that we are very fortunate to be in this position. I try to remind myself all these things – to know that I’m in a very good position and go out there and have fun… prepare myself as good as possible mentally and physically and go out there and compete at the highest level that I could possibly do.”

 

Suárez Notes

  • Suárez, 31, became the first driver from Mexico (Monterrey) to win in the NASCAR Cup Series on June 12, 2022 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
  • He became the fifth different driver all-time not from the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race; joining Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Earl Ross (Canada) and Mario Andretti (Italy).
  • Suárez drives for the third-year team Trackhouse Racing – a team owned by former racer Justin Marks and partner Pitbull.
  • Trackhouse Racing won three races in 2022 and placed both Suárez and teammate Ross Chastain in the 2022 playoffs. Suárez finished a career-best 10th in points.
  • Suárez, came to America to race. He did not speak English when he arrived in Buffalo, New York.
  • He is the only Spanish-speaking driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.
  • Suárez became the first Latin American, as well as the first NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate, to win a NASCAR national series title when he won the 2016 Xfinity Series championship.
  • In 2016, he became the first Mexican driver to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, claiming three victories at Michigan, Dover and the championship finale at Homestead-Miami.
  • He was the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year – the first Mexican driver to win the award.
  • In 2013, Suárez finished third in the ARCA Menards Series East final championship standings, the highest finish for an international driver in series history.
  • Suárez and fiancé Julia Piquet were engaged in November 2022.
  • Suárez received the National Series Driver Award during the NASCAR Diversity Awards in Los Angeles in February.
  • Suárez is a fan of the Mexican Soccer team Tigres UANL – he grew up playing soccer.

Trackhouse Racing PR