“We need each other”: Spire co-owner on signing Daniel Suarez for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season

Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson hopes for a 'good story of redemption' with Daniel Suarez's signing. According to Dickerson, both Suarez and Spire have a point to prove next season.

After months of speculation, Suarez has landed a 2026 seat with Spire's No.7 Ford. The Monterrey native was ousted from Trackhouse Racing to make way for 19-year-old prodigy Connor Zilisch.

Suarez now replaces Justin Haley, who's had a lacklustre season with just two top-10s in 34 starts. Suarez has fared better with seven top-10s, but he still has nine DNFs to his name, making him the second most crash-prone driver this season.

Dickerson, however, believes next year will be a chance to start anew.

“It’s just the thing where I think we need each other. I think all of us love a good story of redemption and giving people a platform to prove doubters wrong. And so I think in this case, Daniel needs to show everybody that this year was an outlier, and we want to show everybody that the 7 car’s performance this year was an outlier as well,” he said via NASCAR's official website.

Daniel Suarez came close to a win twice this season. He finished second at Las Vegas and the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. In his five years with Trackhouse, the No.99 driver has scored two wins and is the first Mexican-born driver to achieve the feat.

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"Wasn’t looking at Spire Motorsports as an option": Daniel Suarez gets candid on new signing

Daniel Suarez opened up about his initial perception of Spire Motorsports as a team. The two-time Xfinity Series champion has raced in top-tier teams like Joe Gibbs Racing before switching to Trackhouse and now Spire.

"How Spire Motorsports has grown the last three years," he said, "I mentioned this to Jeff, three years ago. I probably wasn’t looking at Spire Motorsports as an option. Right now, I believe that this is the fastest-growing team in NASCAR, and I want to be part of that. I know that they are not even close to being done. They’re just getting started,” Daniel Suarez said via aforementioned source.

Spire Motorsports has confirmed that the partnership with Suarez is a long-term one. Next year, the 33-year-old joins Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar to complete the three-car outfit.

Hocevar has shown flashes of speed in his sophomore season with the team. He finished sixth in last weekend's playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, while McDowell bagged the Busch Light pole for the same event.

The No.77 driver finished runner-up twice this year. However, the young driver has been the centre of multiple controversies due to his aggressive driving. Most notably, his repeated run-ins with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. resulted in a feud that nearly turned physical.