He and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain are a constant presence inside the top-ten, and Suarez is one of just two drivers (the other being Alex Bowman) who have finished inside the top-ten in every race so far this year.
Suarez was seventh in the Daytona 500, fourth at Fontana, and tenth at Las Vegas. The consistency has him sitting fourth in the championship standings right now.
So what is the key to Trackhouse Racing's meteoric rise and continued prosperity?
“That’s a very good question," said Suarez during media availability at Phoenix Raceway. "I think it’s a combination of many things, starting with our people. We have great people, great engineers, good pit crews. I think that if we look back to one year ago...one year ago we were a team that was very promising. I feel like right now, Trackhouse is a reality. I think we have shown that we’re here to stay and to be competitive. Last year was a very good year and this year, so far, has gone in a very good way.
"We have to continue to work, not feel comfortable and not stay still because everyone is working very hard. I feel like that has been one of the keys of Trackhouse to continue to evolve and continue to move forward.”
Bridging the gap to his teammate
Suarez's 2022 season was solid, and he ended the year tenth in the standings, but he seemed to trail behind teammate Chastain most of the time. That is not the case this year, as both cars seem to be in lockstep with one another. Suarez feels he's grown tremendously over the past year, and has "learned a lot in how to be a better leader."
He continued: "I’m very tough to myself when it comes to my performance; the way I work, my discipline and stuff like that. Sometimes that was making me also be tough with other people. Maybe sometimes knowing the smart way. Sometimes being ambitious and really wanting something bad is a good thing, but if you’re not smart about it, it can be a bad thing. So I feel like I’ve grown a lot in the last 12 months about how to be better; how to be a better leader for my group. If we want to achieve this goal to get here, how we’re going to get here in a smart way and everyone pushing the train forward."
Suarez went on to admit that he is by no means perfect, but "I can guarantee you that I’m better than I was a year ago."
The statistics agree. Even in his years as a Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing driver, Suarez has never started the year off so strong. After qualifying eleventh at Phoenix, he appears set for another solid run on Sunday.
But of course, modern NASCAR is all about winning and there are major playoff benefits in reaching Victory Lane. A win not only locks you into the postseason, but offers five bonus points. Could that win come this weekend in the Arizona desert?
“I feel like the car yesterday was good. Not great and not bad," said Suarez. "Just good. Probably the best we’ve had a car in a while. We’re one more step in the right direction. I think the positive is that we know what we need and I feel like we’re in the ballpark. Right now, yesterday, we didn’t have a winning car but we had a car that in my opinion can have the potential for it.
"We’ll see. We made some adjustments for today and hopefully we get it.”
