NASCAR: What’s Next for Daniel Suarez?

Coming off his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Michigan, one has to wonder what the future holds for rising star Daniel Suarez.

It took a little over a year, but Daniel Suarez finally notched his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory a few weeks ago at Michigan, chasing down Kyle Busch on the final lap of the race. Now that the proverbial “monkey” of getting his first win is off his back, one must wonder what’s next for Suarez after this season.

Regarded as one of the best developmental drivers in NASCAR right now, Suarez sits atop the Xfinity Series point standings, leading Elliot Sadler by 21 points. Along with being the points leader, Suarez leads the series in top fives (6) and top tens (12). In a division dominated by Sprint Cup regulars, these numbers are quite impressive for a racer who has just one season under his belt at this level.

Granted, he is racing in some of the best equipment, as he currently drives the #19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, but his impressive resume speaks for itself. Before coming to the Xfinity Series, Suarez was a star down in his native Mexico, notching ten wins over four years in the NASCAR Mexico Series, which was enough to prove to Joe Gibbs that he deserved a shot in the Xfinity Series.

Usually with great developmental drivers such as Suarez, they run about two or three seasons in the Xfinity Series before being placed in a Sprint Cup ride, but Suarez is an interesting case. Joe Gibbs racing currently features a four-car stable with some of the top talent in the game, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, and 2015 Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch. With NASCAR’s rule that a team can only have four cars, that leaves Suarez the odd man out.

If Suarez had only raced one professional season and was a bit younger, it would be no problem to keep him down in the Xfinity Series for a few more seasons, but at 24 and with all of his experience, its tough to not bring him up to compete with the big boys on Sundays.

One way to get Suarez some experience would be to bring him up as a fifth driver for select races this season and even next season. This isn’t a complete fix, but it at least allows him to get some races under his belt before his inevitable rookie year. Another solution is to let him race for a satellite team, much like Trevor Bayne did for Roush with Wood Brothers racing before making the jump up to Sprint Cup.

The most likely scenario is that Suarez will be kept down in the Xfinity Series for a few more seasons, eventually getting called up when one of the Gibbs drivers retires or moves on to another team. He is extremely talented, and deserves to be racing on Sundays in the near future, whether it be in a Gibbs Toyota or with another team.

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With the Xfinity championship seemingly in reach, Suarez will focus on the rest of the season before thinking about making the jump up to Sprint Cup, but if his success continues, don’t be surprised to see him competing for victories on Sundays against guys like Dale Jr and Jimmie Johnson. For now, enjoy watching him on Saturday’s dueling with Sadler, Busch, Keselowski, and others.