Daniel Suarez relishes racing for kids in front of a “home” crowd

Daniel Suarez

FORT WORTH, Texas –Texas Motor Speedway isn’t Daniel Suarez’ home track, but it’s close enough that friends and fans from his native Monterrey, Mexico, can road-trip to watch him race.

“Texas is the only race track that I can have family, friends and all kinds of people from my hometown driving to this place,” Suarez said. “So this is a special place for that as well, because it’s not my home track, but it’s very close, so I can call this one of my home tracks.”

If a throng of supporters weren’t enough to motivate Suarez to earn his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs racing Toyota has additional incentives. He’s racing in support of sponsor Stanley Tools’ “Racing for a Miracle” program, which supports the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Stanley has pledged $100,000 to the hospitals. Should Suarez win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday, the $100,000 becomes $1 million.

“I really hope that we do a very good race for these kids,” said Suarez, who visited the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth on Thursday and met the four children who designed his car’s paint scheme for this weekend. “It would be a dream come true for me to bring these kids with me to Victory Lane.

“That would be something amazing, just like winning a championship, because when you get the opportunity to meet these kids, it brings a big smile to your face, and you can see that excitement that they bring to the car, to the race track and hopefully to Victory Lane.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. 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.