Suárez Ready For Special Weekend in Indianapolis

No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet driver Daniel Suárez is ready to be part of history Sunday when the NASCAR Cup Series holds its first race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Suárez has competed in four of the 27 Cup Series races on the 2.5-mile oval at Indy, but he welcomes the switch to the road course. He owns two top-five finishes in 15 career road course starts.

He knows he and his Trackhouse Racing teammates have work to do if the first-year teams wants to be part of the 2021 NASCAR playoffs.

To do that, it appears Suárez will need to win one of the three remaining regular season races before the playoffs begin on Sept. 5. After Indianapolis this weekend, he’ll have chances at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on Aug. 22 and at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Aug. 28.

The NBC Sports App will broadcast Saturday’s 11 a.m. ET practice From Indianapolis then CNBC will air Sunday’s qualifying at 9 a.m. and NBCSN will broadcast the race at 1 p.m.

Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet Camaro

What are your thoughts on Indianapolis?

“I love Indianapolis no matter what shape it is in. Whether its an oval or a road course, whether its in an Indycar or a stock car. I love going there and seeing so much history. Its funny, the oval at Indianapolis in Cup car is like racing on a road course. So now we will be racing on the road course. I love that we are adding more and more road courses. There are a lot of fans that love road course racing and it’s adding different markets. As for us at Trackhouse Racing, every time we get an opportunity to turn left and right we are better. We get another chance this weekend in Indianapolis.” 

Does the mounting pressure of making into the playoffs bother you?

“I feel like if you’re a racecar driver and you don’t like pressure, you’re in the wrong business. As a driver, you always have pressure, whether it’s from sponsors to perform, the playoffs or something else. That’s why we race.”