NASCAR CUP SERIES: COCA-COLA 600

May 24, 2026

Daniel Suarez

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the winning driver of tonight's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Daniel Suárez.

Daniel, a lot of firsts for tonight -- first win with a new team, first win for Ryan as a Cup crew chief, first win for you at a mile and a half, list goes on. Now that you've had time for the win to kind of simmer in, what's one thing that your mind first jumps to in terms of the significance of this victory tonight?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: The very first thing that came to my mind was Kyle. As we all know, this has been a difficult week and weekend for all of us -- drivers, team owners, media, fans, most important, his family.

A few days ago I was still hoping that somebody was going to say that it wasn't real. So the fact that Kyle helped me so much to -- through the Xfinity series and eventually that led me to have a Cup opportunity, that relationship that Jeff Dickerson has -- had with Kyle for many years. Spire Motorsports actually operates in KBM, Kyle Busch Motorsports, building, trade shop. This is no coincidence. The stars align.

And today also, it wasn't easy. We had a loose wheel. We had a flat tire. We had everything. We had so much adversity. But I knew my car was fast. I knew it yesterday, my car was very fast, but we never really got to show it.

So super proud of my team. Super proud of my pit crew. My pit crew, a couple of the guys on my team on the pit crew are new. Last week for the first time in years I spent two days training with them, an hour and a half with them just trying to get used to everything. Definitely this one means a lot because we have put so much into this.

Do I think that we are the best team? Probably not, but we are definitely very strong. I don't think it's a surprise to say the 7 team is strong anymore, and my goal is to continue to have winning speed with this organization and continue to battle with the big boys up front.

Hopefully this momentum can carry over for the next several weeks and we continue to have fun. But again, this week, this weekend is not about us, it's about Kyle and his family, and I'm super proud to be able to get it done for him.

Q. First and foremost, as a driver, there was a very important but a very heavy moment before the race. How and when are you able to make that pivot to the task at hand?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: It was difficult. I would say this is probably the first time or second time ever that I jump in my car and I'm like -- normally as a driver, you really need that time to be able to disconnect from everything that is happening to focus on the car, to focus on the race and everything. I don't feel that I had that moment today because there were so many emotions.

Seeing Samantha today for the first time totally broke my heart. I saw Brexton as well. For a split second, I grabbed him and gave him a kiss on his head. There were so many emotions, so many emotions. I feel like, when I jumped in the car, I wasn't ready really to drive. Once I got my helmet on, I closed my eyes and tried to reset for 15, 20 seconds, and then I was ready.

But it was very difficult. It was very emotional, very, very emotional to see Samantha, Brexton, Lennix, Kyle's dad, mom, Kurt, and the rest of my competitors, drivers. Many of us were crying. It was tough. It was tough. We lost a legend, and most importantly, we lost a friend. It's been difficult.

I'm so glad that Spire Motorsports and the 7 team was able to get it done for him.

Q. To that point, there are a lot of through lines and connections from Kyle to both you and to Spire Motorsports, especially considering that was the home of KBM. How does that -- how do those connections help add to the significance of what tonight is for you personally?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: Yeah, like I said, it really means a lot. I was just having an interview, and Corey LaJoie said it best, I thought, there is no coincidence. Spire Motorsports is very, very close relationship with KBM, with Kyle Busch Motorsports, my relationship with Kyle.

I mentioned it a few days ago, but back in 2015 Kyle and I, we used to be on the phone every single week because he was helping me, trying to understand what I needed to look for, trying to understand the racetrack. Back then we didn't have SMT, we didn't have data. So everything was by feel. If you had experience, you had an advantage.

He didn't have to help me. He didn't have to help this Mexican kid that can barely speak English. He was already a legend of the sport, and he took the time every single week to help me. That for me spoke very, very highly of not who he is as a driver, but who he is as a person. Most people didn't know that side of him. I got to know that side of him.

I just -- those are the kinds of things I want to remember about him. Honestly, because of those things, he made me want to be like him, wanting to help others, want to go give a hand to those upcoming drivers that need a hand. He was a role model.

Q. Recognizing and respecting what you said that tonight is about Kyle and not so much about you, I do want to ask you about how with the win you're 10th place in points. This looks like the most complete version of Daniel Suárez and the Cup series that we've seen yet. It's been quite the journey to get to this point. How rewarding is this win given how tough the last couple years has been and to now have a crown jewel win?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: Listen, every driver, every crew chief, every single one of you guys have had a different journey, right? Different paths. And every single one of us were unique.

For me, my journey into NASCAR hasn't been easy, and I'm not saying that for some other drivers it's been easy, but for me, hasn't been easy -- from learning the language, from not knowing anyone.

So I have had to balance a lot and learn a lot of things the hard way. Yes, Kyle helped me a lot through my career in the Xfinity series. Once I made it to Cup, we were already competitors. So the help really was different.

I had to struggle. I struggled a lot just to understand what I needed to do, how I needed to do it. I never felt that I had exactly the things that sometimes you need as a young driver to continue to grow and continue to learn.

So it's no secret I was bouncing a lot in between teams, and at one point I thought my career was going to be over. But I never stopped believing in myself. I never stopped believing in the person and the driver that I can be. I will be forever thankful to Mr. Hendrick, to Jeff Dickerson, Chevrolet, Freeway Insurance, Coca-Cola -- all these sponsors that have been with me for many years.

It's been amazing. I wouldn't change it for anything because right now I believe that I'm the most complete driver that we all have seen.

But as we all know in the Cup Series, you can be the best driver in the world, and if you don't have the rest of the pieces of the puzzle, it's not going to work. You have to have pit crew, the engineers, manufacturer, everything. I believe that right now I'm in a good spot with Spire Motorsports, and I feel very blessed for that.

Q. To that point, one of the things that has not changed has been Frankie on the spotter's stand. He's come over with you. His work on the stand three wide with Christopher and Denny, the work he did was kind of instrumental to winning this race. What makes you and him work so well together, and why was it really important that, when you come over to Spire, that Frankie come with you?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: You want me to be very honest with you? He can understand my English (laughter). I told him, I said, Frankie, we have this deal going on, man. They didn't know if they wanted to keep Frankie at Trackhouse, which I was extremely happy to hear that because, in my opinion, Frankie is a top spotter on the roof. He's one of the best. He's extremely good.

When I was able to bring him with me, I said, brother, I'm just so glad that I'm going to continue to work with you because you can understand my English, and it's tough. One thing is to talk to you guys here, but another whole different thing is on the radio. For me to have that consistency with Frankie on the radio is extremely important and valuable. It's the only thing I didn't have to relearn.

So Frankie, as always, he's extremely good, like he did an amazing job today, telling me what was happening behind me because those guys were fast especially -- I feel like, if I had four tires, I was going to be pretty good, in good shape because my car was fast too. But having a tire disadvantage, really I was going to have to play in a whole different way, and Frankie helped me to stay up front.

Q. Without giving away any secrets, you're talking about Kyle taught you so much, but when you were in that situation and on those restarts, what was the advice that he gave you that benefited you the most? Because both of you had gone up against, had worked at Joe Gibbs Racing too, so you knew them. But what was it that was going through your mind that Kyle said? Remember what?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: To stay calm. To stay calm, to prepare your tires. At that point, we all had all tires, one cycle on tires. To stay calm and to stay under control.

There were a lot of things that were happening out there on the last two restarts because the racetrack was a little bit wet the first time and a little bit more wet the second time. So I knew -- I mean, a few years ago, a couple years ago, I crashed leading the race in Daytona in corner one because it was raining very hard. Actually, it wasn't only me, the whole field almost crashed there. And Austin Dillon ended up winning the race, and he made it into the playoffs.

That came into my mind. But in my mind, Frankie did an amazing job keeping me focused and to stay neutral and focus on the task. I had a good push from behind from Larson, and I was able to control the race a little bit. But if the race was going 10, 15 laps longer, it was going to be tough to hold those Toyotas, especially with right-side tires only. But the team did an amazing job, we gamble, and the car was fast enough to hold them off for a handful of laps.

Q. Two wins for Spire now. Where does this leave you as an organization? Do you feel like you're getting the respect from the other teams? And what is the ceiling, do you feel like?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: To me, that's the -- I mentioned this earlier. To me, the most amazing thing about Spire Motorsports is that, yes, we're seeing results. Yes, we are being competitive. But we're not even close to the full potential of this running station. There's so much talent, so many people that work so hard, and the structure of this place, it's just very, very well put together.

When you have a good foundation, the house is going to be strong. Spire Motorsports has an amazing foundation, and that's something that I saw last year from distance. I didn't know exactly what they were doing or how they were doing it. Now that I'm part of the organization, I can see many things, and things are starting to make sense.

I'm just telling you I'm just extremely happy to be part of Spire Motorsports because I believe that we haven't even -- we haven't seen the full potential of this organization, and I can't wait to continue this journey with Spire Motorsports.

Q. Daniel, in Mexican culture the departed are very venerated in a way that's very distinct -- I lost my train of thought.

DANIEL SUÁREZ: You can say it in Spanish if you want (laughter).

Q. When you think about having won this race and this race in particular, what it's going to mean in the history of NASCAR and what it already means, with that background, how does that allow you to celebrate Kyle as well as this one? What I meant to say is in this country, we're familiar with dia de los muertos, but there are also other things that I can't necessarily speak to completely. Can you talk a bit about that if what I'm asking makes any sense?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: Where I came from in Mexico, we're very family-oriented people. My mom is back there. My sisters are back there. This is the only race I actually have my family with me. It's one of the reasons why it's my favorite weekend of the year. The Coca-Cola 600, because I always get to have my family for a week.

Kyle, he wasn't my family, but he was someone that gave me a hand when I needed it most. It wasn't just a hand, it was a hand of a legend, it was a hand of somebody with so much experience. For that, I will be forever grateful, forever grateful.

Kyle is one of the few drivers out there that I never had an issue with. We always got along amazing. One time he got in trouble in Cancun, and he called me, Samantha called me. After -- some of you guys know what happened there. After the race in Mexico City, we partied together. He came to my party. Like I just love the guy. He was an amazing person.

For me, one of my goals this weekend is for people to understand these stories of him because a lot of people didn't know who he was as a person. Many people, fans, they knew him as a racing driver. But the person, the person who is behind that fire suit, behind that helmet, that's what counts the most, that family man. Every time that you talk to Kyle about Brexton, his eyes light up. He was a family man. And because of that, this race is so special, all the combination of these things.

I want to make sure that the focus and the most important thing about this victory is not Spire Motorsports, it's not Daniel Suárez, it's Kyle Busch because he was very, very important piece for me to be here and for Spire Motorsports to be where it is right now.

Q. I'm very curious about something because back in October Jeff said when he signed you to that contract that this is a redemption story for both of you, for the No. 7 needing to perform better, and for you proving that Trackhouse was just an outlier. With the way you have run the overall season, putting yourselves in the points standings where you are and obviously winning the crown jewel race, I'm curious, where is the redemption story? How has that progressed for you?

DANIEL SUÁREZ: Back in September or something -- I can't remember the month, but when I start having conversations with Jeff, with Bill, with Mr. Hendrick at one point as well, with Cesar Soriano, CEO for Freeway Insurance, we all realized that we needed to prove that we belong. I needed to do that. Spire Motorsports and the 7 team needed to do that. And we went to work, no excuses.

In a way, I knew the things that went wrong the last couple years, in the last couple years in my journey at Trackhouse. I think that Trackhouse and myself, we had an amazing ride together, but the last couple years, things went cloudy, right? I knew the things that went wrong, and I mentioned those things to Jeff, and I said, Jeff, I want to make sure that these don't happen because I've seen this movie before.

Jeff was very open, and Jeff was extremely involved with the team, and we went to work. No excuses, just went to work, with something to prove -- not to people, not to the media, not to the fans, to prove to myself. I mentioned this earlier, but I'm not racing against anyone but myself. It's Daniel Suárez versus Daniel Suárez. The same thing with Spire Motorsports.

We've been focusing on ourselves, and eventually the results come. I believe that this year we have done a good job, but until now, at Texas we were not contending for wins yet, but we're a strong team.

I said this in January, and my goal was for you guys not to be surprised when you see the 7 team in the top 10, in the top 5, contending for wins. That's still my goal today. I believe that we still have work to do, but definitely we're on the right path to do that.