Daniel Suarez is in a contract year with Trackhouse Racing, and he could not have asked for a worse start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
After finishing 13th in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, he recorded back-to-back DNFs at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he won last year, and Circuit of the Americas (COTA). As a result, he finds himself down in 29th in the point standings.
But the worst part about it for Suarez is the fact that, when he had his unforced spin at COTA, it also took out Connor Zilisch, Trackhouse Racing's development driver who was making his Cup Series debut.
Daniel Suarez wrecks Connor Zilisch, lands on the Trackhouse hot seat
Zilisch qualified in 14th place and found himself mired in the back of the pack early after being involved in an opening lap incident that was ironically triggered by Ross Chastain, another full-time Trackhouse Racing driver. But he had worked his way back up to 14th before being taken out by Suarez.
Zilisch is widely considered one of the top NASCAR prospects in quite some time, and he has already punched his ticket to the Xfinity Series playoffs as a rookie for JR Motorsports.
The belief is that he will be promoted to the Cup Series before long, and with teams not named Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing now restricted from running more than three full-time entries, Trackhouse Racing will need to let somebody go if they are to avoid losing him to a rival organization.
Suffice it to say that Suarez would be the odd man out.
Suarez, whom the team hired to be their first driver when they entered the series back in 2021, has been steeply outperformend by Chastain since the two became teammates in 2022.
While Suarez did make the playoffs last year and Chastain didn't, he got in thanks to his Atlanta win; Chastain had a better season points-wise and still ended up winning a playoff race at Kansas Speedway.
And quite frankly, had Suarez not won at Atlanta last year, he might have already lost his place as the driver of the No. 99 Chevrolet. When he made the playoffs in 2022, he also wouldn't have made it had he not found victory lane when he did at Sonoma Raceway. That same year, Chastain advanced to the Championship 4.
Shane van Gisbergen also isn't going anywhere, given his own impressive rise to the Cup Series. The rookie, who became the first driver to win his Cup debut in six decades when he won on the streets of Chicago for Trackhouse Racing's PROJECT91 program, was impressive on Sunday at COTA, leading several laps and placing sixth.
Whether the move happens as soon as 2026 remains to be seen, but the writing seems to be on the wall at this point. The real question is whether or not Zilisch should take another year at the Xfinity level before a promotion. After all, come the 2027 season, he would still be only 20 years old.
Zilisch is expected to make other Cup Series starts in a fourth Trackhouse Racing entry later this year, but nothing has been confirmed. Team owner Justin Marks has made it clear that he wants his young prospect to be focused on winning the Xfinity Series championship, above all else.