Daniel Suarez will be driving the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in 2019. We’ve known that pretty much all along.
Monday it became official when SHR official announced that Suarez will be part of its lineup this season replacing Kurt Busch in No. 41. The announcement comes on the occasion of his 27th birthday.
“This is the best birthday present I could ask for,” said Suárez, who was born Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico and now calls Huntersville, North Carolina home. “We’ve all seen how competitive Stewart-Haas Racing is – all of their drivers won last year and all of them advanced deep into the playoffs. This is the opportunity every driver wants, and now I have it. I want to deliver for this team, our partners in Haas Automation, ARRIS and Ford and, ultimately, for me. We have everything we need to be successful.”
It also comes several months after Suarez was released from Joe Gibbs Racing to make room for Martin Truex Jr. whose Furniture Row Racing team shut down at the end of last season. Suárez made 72 NASCAR Cup Series starts with JGR in 2017-2018 after winning the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
Tony Stewart, co-owner of SHR with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas, believes Suárez’s quick ascension to the NASCAR Cup Series is proof of his talent and desire.
“In each series Daniel has raced in, he’s advanced quickly from rookie to race winner. In four years, he went from the K&N Series to the NASCAR Cup Series. In between, he won a Xfinity Series championship, and he did it all while learning a new language and a new culture. He’s dedicated, he’s talented and we’re proud to have him as a key part of our race team.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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