With Carl Edwards confirming Tuesday morning that he is stepping away from full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition for the foreseeable future, Joe Gibbs Racing didn’t have to go far for a replacement.
Reigning XFINITY Series champion Daniel Suarez was announced as the new Cup Series driver of the No. 19 Toyota Camry for the 2017 season.
For team owner Joe Gibbs, the decision to put the Hispanic native in the seat wasn’t hard.
“Daniel was the obvious choice,” Gibbs said Tuesday. “As everybody knows here, had an unbelievable year in XFINITY. We have been around Daniel now for two and a half years. And I can honestly say this: His background and the people that work with him, you know, you’ve got Gustavo, Jimmy is here, Jimmy is a big part of obviously Daniel’s life, but his family, what you can tell about Daniel is Daniel, he’s all over it.
“We had, two and a half years, we became convinced that he’s going to as everybody here in NASCAR has watched him talent wise, we felt like that obviously, that was a great choice for us, and I think he’s had the right background.
The Monterrey, Mexico native was vacationing during the Holidays in his home country of Mexico when he first learned that he would be taking over the No. 19 Cup entry this season.
“I was having lunch with my girlfriend and her family,” Suarez said Wednesday afternoon from Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters. “I had to jump out and answer the call, and I never came back after 40 minutes. When I came back Sylvia and her parents were asking what was going on because I came back with a smile like this.”
While a big leap for Suarez who joined Joe Gibbs Racing for a limited schedule in 2014, his accolades during the last two full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series seasons prove that Suarez is not only ready to make the leap, but follow in the footsteps of Edwards.
“This is amazing,” said Suarez. “I wasn’t expecting to be in this position right now. It’s been an amazing time. This is hard to believe that I’m in this position. We started all this dream 10 years ago with NASCAR, and right now to be in this position, to be in this opportunity is just something amazing for me and for everyone that has been helping me, of course.”
The team around Suarez is secure too. Carl Edwards’ former crew chief Dave Rogers isn’t going anywhere.
“I know that it won’t be easy,” added Suarez. “We have a lot to work. I have a lot to learn. But I’m sure that it couldn’t happen in a better situation with Dave Rogers and the entire 19 group. It’s just an amazing team. I feel like it’s just a perfect place to be for a rookie like me that is really hungry to learn and to go out there and to perform well.”
Suarez has yet to sit inside a Cup Series race car, but the team confirmed Tuesday that Suarez will represent Joe Gibbs Racing at Phoenix International Raceway at the end of the month in a NASCAR-sanctioned test. Gibbs hopes Edwards will attend.
“We’re hoping Daniel is going to be at his first test the 30th, and we’re hoping that with Carl’s schedule he can make that,” said Gibbs. “He’s (Edwards) going to help Daniel and our support group, but then there’s going to be other things that we’ve kind of been thinking about with Carl. So hopefully that’s what we’ll see in the future going forward.”
No matter how the test goes, Suarez can carry the confidence knowing he’ll start the year in a ride that is among the best in the garage.
“It came a little sooner than we expected, but we’re ready to go on,” said Suarez. “When you are with the right team, you know the opportunity will come. It will come at the right time. I have learned a lot in the XFINITY Series. I had an amazing team in 2016.
“I feel like everything that happened in 2016 in XFINITY helped me a lot to be ready for this opportunity. I feel like this will be a dream come true. Since I was 16, this has been something I’ve been dreaming about. To be here is something amazing.”
Gibbs also shed light Tuesday on his protégé stance for another year of XFINITY Series competition.
“We love XFINITY,” said Gibbs. “We’ve got a huge investment over there in people and our sponsors over there. Here’s the deal with us. We will continue to run three cars over there. This has caused us some changes on one of them, but we feel very confident that we’ll wind up with a full year.
“With Daniel, what we’re going to do is talk it over with Dave and everybody else and Daniel, and we’re going to kind of adjust his schedule on what we think is best. You know, I think right now we’re around 10 races or something, but we could go either way with that, and we really just want to do what’s best for Daniel in preparing him for Cup.
We’ve got our other Cup drivers that are going to be chipping in on it, but it’s going to be pretty much Dave’s decision on how much we do.”
Gibbs also told CATCHFENCE.com that Arris would no longer sponsor the team’s No. 19 XFINITY Series team full-time and likely would only back the races when Suarez was at the wheel.
This past June, Suarez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series event at Michigan International Speedway thrusting himself into the inaugural XFINITY Series Chase – which ultimately led to the championship crown in just his second full-time season of competition.
Before XFINITY, Suarez was first noticed in the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series, scoring 10 wins in 58 starts. He also competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West as a member of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program with Rev Racing. He is also an alumnus of the NASCAR Next program.
Suarez earned three wins in the K&N Pro Series East before being eyed by Joe Gibbs Racing and thus beginning his tenure with the Huntersville, N.C.-based team in 2014.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
