“It was a matter of time to end this chapter": Daniel Suarez gets 100% real on his Trackhouse exit 

Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing will end their partnership following the completion of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. The decision was mutually made and is a parting of ways that ends a five-season partnership that started just after Trackhouse entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021.

Suarez spoke to Frontstretch about the split and looked forward to working with his team for the rest of the season

Daniel Suarez’s 2025 season has been difficult, with the driver currently sitting 29th in the standings and outside playoff contention, while his teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen have secured playoff spots.

There's no official replacement yet. But it is widely expected that Connor Zilisch, 18, will take the No. 99 car in 2026. Zilisch is a driver for Trackhouse who has already run a couple of Cup races and recently won in the Xfinity Series.

"I feel honestly very, very blessed to be the face of the Latinos in NASCAR, and I think we're gonna be fine, it's just a matter of time, like I said, you know, the last six months, eight months, they've been very difficult for me, I knew this was gonna happen, I wasn't very happy anymore, and I wasn't the only one, it was just a matter of time to end this chapter, but at the end of the day, listen, we're still in the middle of the season, so we have a lot of things that we still have to work on with my 99 team." (2:39 onwards)

"I love the 99 team, it's probably one of the best things I ever had, and I'm gonna miss that group so much, that group is very special to me, but it's a cycle, and that cycle is slowly coming to an end."

Daniel Suarez's future beyond the end of the season remains uncertain for now. The Mexican-American driver has gone from karting to racing in the NASCAR Mexico Series to the K&N Pro Series East.

Suarez became the first foreign-born driver to ever win a major NASCAR national series championship by winning the 2016 Xfinity Series Championship with Joe Gibbs Racing (his first major championship). He first started racing in the Cup Series with JGR, then moved to Gaunt Brothers Racing, before joining Trackhouse Racing in 2021.

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Daniel Suarez spoke about his place in Trackhouse Racing, days after exit announcement

Daniel Suarez also made a candid confession about his feelings of frustration and perceived lack of importance within Trackhouse Racing, shortly after announcing his departure from the team at the end of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

After Matt Swiderski replaced Travis Mack as his crew chief, he quickly identified issues that needed correction—many of which Suarez had already pointed out—but progress on these changes was slow or limited.

"I just think that lately there has been things that have made me feel that I'm not as important," he told Kelly Crandall.

Daniel Suarez openly shared that this lack of action contributed to his sense that he felt he was no longer a priority within the organization.