NASCAR: Will Daniel Suarez’s split from Joe Gibbs Racing mirror Joey Logano’s?

Will Daniel Suarez’s split from Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season mirror that of Joey Logano after the 2012 season?

After driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in each of the last two NASCAR Cup Series seasons and not having much success in either season, especially not relative to his any of his teammates, Daniel Suarez was cut by Toyota’s powerhouse Cup Series team.

But the 27-year-old Mexican caught a break, as he was signed by Stewart-Haas Racing to replace Kurt Busch behind the wheel of the #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, as Busch left Stewart-Haas Racing to replace Jamie McMurray behind the wheel of the #1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Suarez’s move was interpreted by the majority of NASCAR’s fanbase in one of two ways. Many fans believed that other drivers were more deserving of this ride with the top-tier Ford team given the fact that he did not perform at anywhere close to a high level driving for Joe Gibbs Racing for two whole seasons.

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But many fans also believed that Suarez’s move could mirror that of Joey Logano.

Logano was released by Joe Gibbs Racing after driving for the team for four seasons and winning only two races. He finished no higher than 16th place in the championship standings in any of these four seasons, which were the first four seasons of his Cup Series career, and he did not qualify for the playoffs in any of them.

Suarez, meanwhile, finished in 20th and 21st place in the 2017 and 2018 championship standings, respectively, and he was the only one of Joe Gibbs Racing’s four drivers who failed to make the playoffs in both seasons. In fact, all four of the other drivers who drove for the team in either one or both of the 2017 and 2018 seasons won at least one race.

But, Suarez, who was one of the three drivers who drove for the team in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons, recorded only four top four finishes, three top three finishes and a career-high second place finish in his 72 races driving for the team.

Meanwhile, in his first six seasons driving for Team Penske, a Ford team like Stewart-Haas Racing, following a disappointing four-year stint driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, Logano won 19 races and finished outside of the top eight in the championship standings only once. Most notably, he won the 2018 championship.

Through the first seven races of the 2019 season, the 28-year-old Middletown, Connecticut native has added another victory to his career win total, which is now 22, and he sits in fourth place in the championship standings and within striking distance of the top spot.

Suarez’s start to the 2019 season certainly does not make it look like he will be able to amount to what Logano has amounted to in the Cup Series. It took the 27-year-old Mexican until the season’s seventh race to record his first top nine finish driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. He finished in third place in this race at Texas Motor Speedway, a race he entered with a disappointing average finishing position of 17.7 through the season’s first six races.

But believe it or not, Logano started his tenure driving for Team Penske in almost the same way. By comparison, it took him until the fifth race of the 2013 season to record his first top 11 finish driving for the team, at which point his average finishing position through the season’s first four races was a disappointing 18.5. He did so in the form of a third place finish at Auto Club Speedway.

The rest is history.

Will Daniel Suarez’s split from Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season mirror Joey Logano’s split from the team after the 2012 season, one that has proven to be the move that has turned his career around for the better?

With Suarez having driven in only seven races for Stewart-Haas Racing, only time will tell, but patience will certainly be a virtue in this situation, just as it was with the newest Cup Series champion only a few years ago.