Suarez, 30, earned his first Cup win in his 195th profession begin on Sunday at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, turning into the primary Mexican driver to win within the collection since its inception in 1949.
Suarez’s victory was additionally the third in lower than two seasons for Trackhouse Racing, which is co-owned by Marks, a former driver, and Grammy award-winning rapper Pitbull.
“We now have an awesome tradition at Trackhouse. Daniel checked a whole lot of containers for us immediately,” Marks mentioned. “He’s an skilled Cup driver. He’s a winner. When he’s been in positions to win, he’s gained together with his Xfinity championship and in Vans.
“He had a chip on his shoulder. He wished to show to the world he belonged within the Cup Collection.”
Suarez debuted in NASCAR competitors in his native Mexico in 2009 and have become the primary Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR nationwide collection race in 2016 together with his Xfinity Collection victory at Michigan. He went on to win the collection championship that season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
His NASCAR future appeared on a quick monitor.
Nevertheless, simply as Suarez was about to embark on a second season in Xfinity, Carl Edwards abruptly left NASCAR, leaving JGR with a Cup experience to fill for the 2017 season. The group turned to Suarez as Edwards’ substitute.
Though there have been loads of flashes of potential, Suarez by no means appeared to search out the identical success in Cup, whether or not it was at JGR, Stewart-Haas Racing or Gaunt Brothers Racing.
When Marks introduced the formation of Trackhouse within the fall of 2020, Suarez was his alternative because the crew’s first driver.
“He checked all of the containers for us and I knew he had an amazing quantity of potential, that he was a winner at this degree,” Marks mentioned. “I informed him from day one, ‘That is your crew, this No. 99 crew is your crew. You come to me and inform me something and all the things that you simply want. We’re going to place that behind you.’
“It’s very nice to see all that work during the last couple of years be at a spot the place everyone is rewarded for it.”
Requested if he thought Suarez had turn out to be discouraged and doubted his potential by the point he joined Trackhouse, Marks mentioned, “Not for one second. Not for one second ever. I’ve virtually by no means met a extra decided, centered, hard-working race automobile driver in my 20 years on this sport.
“Each single morning he wakes up and says, ‘I’m going to be the perfect model of myself I might be in the present day, I’m going to do all of the work I can probably do in the present day to win this race this weekend.’
“It’s superb how constant he’s, how that continues, that fireplace continues to burn so shiny even after stringing quite a few robust races in a row collectively. He’s simply very, very spectacular in that regard.”
Suarez’s crew chief on the No. 99, Travis Mack, mentioned he noticed one thing comparable when the 2 have been first paired collectively final season.
“As soon as I met with him, I might see the drive in his face, in his eyes. As soon as we began turning into pals and speaking to one another, I might see how exhausting he was working,” he mentioned.
“He wished this so unhealthy. I used to be the identical means.”