Daniel Suarez
Daniel Suarez has a place in the NASCAR Cup Series, after all. Gaunt Brothers Racing announced after business hours Tuesday that Suarez, the enormously likable 28-year-old driver from Monterey, Mexico, will drive its No. 96 Toyota full-time this year. OK, so Gaunt Brothers cuts a much lower profile in the sport than Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, powerful teams from which Suarez lost his ride in consecutive years. Gaunt Brothers fielded its first Cup car in 2017 and was in only 15 Cup races in 2019.
“It’s hard not to put yourself down a little bit after what happened two years in a row,” Suarez said in a teleconference. “That’s not easy to digest. But as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. So here we are.”
The team is 0 for 38 in Cup so far, with zero top-fives or top-10 finishes, zero poles and zero laps led. But Marty Gaunt, team president, said hiring Suarez is a huge step. Gaunt and Suarez say it will take time to build a team, but they won’t be happy just to ride around behind the big boys for long.
“We’re going to probably stumble a little bit,” Gaunt said. “We’re going to have speed bumps, but this isn’t about the short term — let’s see what we can do this year. This is about building a team for the future.”
“It’s hard not to put yourself down a little bit after what happened two years in a row,” Suarez said in a teleconference. “That’s not easy to digest. But as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. So here we are.”
The team is 0 for 38 in Cup so far, with zero top-fives or top-10 finishes, zero poles and zero laps led. But Marty Gaunt, team president, said hiring Suarez is a huge step. Gaunt and Suarez say it will take time to build a team, but they won’t be happy just to ride around behind the big boys for long.
“We’re going to probably stumble a little bit,” Gaunt said. “We’re going to have speed bumps, but this isn’t about the short term — let’s see what we can do this year. This is about building a team for the future.”