“I just think that lately, there have been things that have made me feel that I’m not as important.” Daniel Suárez’s emotional words cast a light on his unfortunate situation. When the Mexican driver first joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021, the team was just starting out. Suarez helped boost its fledgling status with his 2022 win at Sonoma Raceway. Three years later, however, all of his teammates are soaring beyond expectations, thus axing Suárez’s importance.

In Sunday’s Grant Park 165 race, Shane van Gisbergen proved his elite road course skills yet again. What is more? He clinched his second Cup Series win of the year and did it in style as he completed a weekend sweep by winning the Xfinity race too! As faith in SVG’s racing was restored, that in Suárez’s skills suffered another blow, and insiders feel this has been the trend during Suárez’s downfall.

No way out for Daniel Suárez

Well, that is the scenario for the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing driver. Daniel Suárez parted ways with his team recently, after a ‘mutual’ agreement with owner Justin Marks. However, the situation was deeper than that when compared with his teammates. Over four and a half years of racing in Trackhouse, Suárez fetched only two wins, the last one coming in the 2024 Atlanta race.

In the meantime, Ross Chastain has picked up three wins, cracking the playoffs as well. Now, the new faces around the block look like bigger threats. Shane Van Gisbergen, a rookie in the Cup Series, has more career Cup Series wins than Suárez. Connor Zilisch, Trackhouse’s developmental driver in Xfinity, picks up wins (2) and top fives (7) like berries in a garden.

That is why Daniel Suárez’s departure from Trackhouse was understandable. In a recent ‘Teardown’ episode, Jeff Gluck broke down how Suarez had no way out. All his teammates are performing well while he is struggling with the same equipment. Gluck said, “What SVG is doing and what Zilisch is doing is also a big reason why we had the Daniel Suárez news this week where he is out of a ride. It just sort of reaffirms: this is why you’d do that.” Gluck continued that if Suárez was able to perform under pressure, then his reputation would have been boosted more. “But at the same time, there’s something about somebody having a target on their back in NASCAR and still being able to do it.” Unfortunately, his luck ran out in the Cup Series.

Jordan Bianchi also concurred, shedding light on the sheer excellence of his teammates. SVG has more career wins (6) than Daniel Suárez, Ross Chastain has won a Cup race this year, and Xfinity rookie Connor Zilisch, who is meant to be a road course expert merely adjusting to ovals, already has an oval win along with a road course win and has not finished outside the top-5 in a month!

Echoing this sentiment, Bianchi said, “He’s got more wins than Daniel Suárez does, career wins. That’s the reality of the situation… He (Suárez) is now getting consistently outpaced by two of his teammates. SVG’s got two wins this year, Chastain’s got a win this year and won a race last year. You have teammates that are doing this on a variety of different tracks, and you’re not; that’s really hard not to think, okay, we need a change here. Especially when you’ve got a hot prospect in the Xfinity Series who is continuing to roll off top fives on all sorts of different tracks and is now winning on ovals.” 

Even amidst Daniel Suárez’s heartbreaking exit, there are things he would cherish. That includes a solid camaraderie with a teammate.

Remembering the good times

After all, Daniel Suárez was a part of Trackhouse Racing’s growth. He boosted the team’s rise in the Cup Series along with Ross Chastain. In the year 2022, the teammates brought multiple victories for their team. Chastain kicked it off by collecting his first, and the organization’s first, win at Circuit of The Americas in 2022. He followed that up four weeks later with a win at Talladega Superspeedway.

After that, it was Suárez’s time to shine as he brought his first Cup Series trophy at Sonoma Raceway. Chastain ended that year with a loud bang for Trackhouse, pulling off a miracle ‘Hail-Melon’ move to reach the Championship 4, coming up just short to Joey Logano at Phoenix. Three years ago, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez cheered for each other as they picked up trophies. In 2025, Chastain maintains that special bond with Suárez, even though the latter bids his adieu.

Chastain cherished his memories recently, “Both of us winning, seeing his excitement for me at COTA (Circuit of The Americas), and then me when he won at Sonoma. I parked the car where I had to, and then I ran up to the start/finish line where he was celebrating. Just seeing that come full circle for both of us. Our path to get to Trackhouse were both relatively similar timelines, I’d say. So I feel like that, just seeing all that pay off with Cup wins, I mean, just can’t get over our first wins, and we were there for each other. We were there leading into that, into both of those wins that year in ’22.”

Even though Daniel Suárez’s time is ending at Trackhouse, those memories will last longer. Let us see what the future holds for the Mexican speedster.