Suarez remains optimistic despite slow start to rookie Cup season

But the current NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, who is 28th in the Cup standings through three races, remains optimistic.

In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, when you are a little bit off, you still in the top 10. When you're a little bit off in the Cup car, you're 21st, 25th. So it's a big difference.

Daniel Suarez

Not only has he proved to be a quick learner, the 25-year-old Monterrey, Mexico, native is returning to his favorite track this weekend — Phoenix International Raceway.

“Overall, Phoenix is one of those places that doesn't matter which series I'm going in, I feel very comfortable going,” Suarez said. “It's a place that I feel like I have maybe the most experience of the NASCAR racetracks that we go on this year, 2017.

“It's always fun to come here and to race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It will be very helpful to have that test over a month ago. Hopefully, we can put something that we learn for today's practice. Hopefully, be strong for Sunday.”

Suarez finished 11th in his NXS debut at the one-mile desert oval, and his next three results were top fives, including a third in the Xfinity race last spring. On the truck tour, Suarez finished fourth in the his PIR debut in 2015 and won here last year. He also won at Phoenix in the Mexico series and posted one top-five and two top-10 finishes in the K&N Pro Series West.

Slow start to 2017

Despite Suarez's meteoric ascent through the NASCAR ranks, his transition into the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Cup car has been a struggle. “Everything happened so fast,” Suarez said of the sudden call to replace Carl Edwards for 2017.

Additionally, the demands of Cup drivers are significantly higher than in the lower ranks on and off the track. Drivers spend three days — sometimes four — preparing for race day at each venue. That leaves little "down" time at home.

Suarez is not the type to shirk his responsibilities. He understands that the more time he spends at the track with his new crew chief Dave Rogers, the quicker he will acclimate to the series. Suarez was sidelined in his Cup debut at Daytona after he was collected in an 11-car wreck on Lap 141. He finished 29th. The following week at Atlanta, he finished where he started — 21st, two laps down. Suarez showed improvement last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He posted his best start (11th) and finish (20th).

“I think definitely we have still a long ways to go. In this sport, it's super important to have good communication, good chemistry,” Suarez said. “All that takes some time. My first race ever with Dave Rogers was in Daytona. We all know it's a different kind of racetrack than everything else that we race. My first real regular racetrack was in Atlanta. I feel like we are getting there.

“I don't think we have showed the speed that we should, what we should have. But we're making a lot of gains. I'm hoping that sooner or later those gains are going to show up at the racetrack. I know that my team has big capacity to be strong and to be competitive. I know that I can do the job. We just have to work on the communication. I have to know more Dave and my team. Dave has to know more myself, how I like to drive the racecar. I'm sure once we work on all these little details, we're going to be fine. We just, you know, need some time to understand each other a little bit more.”

Learning curve between Xfinity and Cup

Since joining JGR, Suarez has relied on Edwards’ advice to get up to speed in Cup. Edwards enjoyed a remarkable run at Phoenix, with two wins in Cup and four in the Xfinity series. His guidance at the Goodyear tire test last month at PIR was invaluable to Suarez.

“You have to race this racetrack very different between the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series,” Suarez said. “I learned some good stuff from him. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, I've been lucky enough to be successful pretty much every time that we come here. We have a lot of top‑five and top‑three finishes.

“Now in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, it's a little bit different. You have more power and less grip. That makes things a little bit more difficult. You have to work just a little bit different. For sure, was very helpful to have Carl here in that test day.”

No margin for error

Suarez realizes how lucky he is to compete in a top-of-the-line stock car. And last year, Gibbs Toyotas combined to win 12 races. JGR’s technical alliance with Furniture Row Racing provided four additional victories by Martin Truex Jr. Certainly, solid equipment can mask rookie errors, but the jump from Xfinity to Cup is so dramatic that Suarez understands he won’t be able to rely solely on the cars alone.

“In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, when you are a little bit off, you still in the top 10,” Suarez said. “When you're a little bit off in the Cup car, you're 21st, 25th. So it's a big difference. You make that gain back, then you are in the top 10, you're in the top 15. It’s very competitive. I can tell you the best drivers in the world are here in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Never said it was going to be easy. But we have to work hard. I know I have the team. I know that I have the things that it takes to be competitive in this level. We just need to put our stuff together and go to work.

“I'm very lucky that I got my first opportunity in a Cup car in a super good team and car. It's just a team that they know that they can win races. Now we need to put that to myself. We need to build that communication, that chemistry. That takes some time. But smart people normally take less time, so hopefully we can be part of the smart people.”