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DANIEL SUÁREZ – 2019 Texas I Race Advance

Daniel Suárez and the No. 41 Ruckus Ford Mustang team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) make the journey to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth this weekend. Texas marks the seventh event this season on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit. For the second time in 2019, the Mexico native will pilot the Ruckus-themed Mustang.

Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company, is redefining connectivity by bridging the digital divide and connecting people around the world. Ruckus strives to deliver ubiquitous connectivity to its access points, switches and cloud services.

After qualifying and finishing 10th last weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Suárez is 16th in the Cup Series point standings to round out the four-car SHR contingent in the standings. The top 16 drivers after the 26 regular-season races will earn a spot in the NASCAR playoffs.

Texas is the second 1.5-mile track the Cup Series visits this season, the first being Atlanta Motor Speedway last month, when Suárez earned a 10th-place finish in the No. 41 Ford Mustang. In Suárez’s last 10 starts at 1.5-mile tracks, he has an average starting position of 13.6 and an average finishing position of 18.6.

Suárez heads into this weekend looking for his first Cup Series top-10 at Texas. In his four Cup Series starts at the Fort Worth oval, he has a best starting spot of sixth and a best finish of 14th – both earned in November 2017. Additionally, he has five starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Texas with one top-five finish and two top-10s, along with three laps led. In the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, he made three starts in 2015 and 2016 with top-five finishes in all three starts, including two runner-up results, along with six laps led.

“I have some work to do in the Cup Series at Texas, and I really liked the track before the repave and ran well there in the Xfinity and Truck Series,” the Ruckus driver said. “It’s going to be totally different this weekend, though, with the new rules package.”

Texas is closest track on the schedule to Suárez’s hometown of Monterrey, Mexico. “I have some friends and a couple of family members coming to the track this weekend,” he said. “The West Coast races and Texas are the closest for my family and friends, and it’s fun to have them come to the track because I don’t get to see them a lot.”

Ruckus, a technology provider, and SHR, a racing organization, both ultimately strive to achieve the same goals – to operate at high performance. Ruckus provides secure and reliable access to applications and services, and offers a complete offering of high-performance network equipment. The company’s portfolio includes Wi-Fi controllers, indoor and outdoor access points, switches, network access security, and support and services.

SHR has three Cup Series wins at Texas, two earned by Suárez’s teammate Kevin Harvick, whose most recent Texas win came last November. SHR co-owner Tony Stewart rounds out the trio of wins.

Ford has captured three victories so far this season, which accounts for 50 percent of the races to this point. The new Cup Series Mustang also has four pole awards, two of those by Suárez’s SHR teammates Aric Almirola and Harvick. At Texas, the Blue Oval has the most wins of all manufacturers in the Cup Series with 14.

 

Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 41 Ruckus Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

We are a few races into this season. How are things going with you and your team?

“I’m having a lot of fun. I’m still getting to know everyone on my team, but we’ve been making progress. We’ve been fixing the little issues we have here and they are getting better. I feel like we have come a long way so far and we’ll keep getting better.”

What do you expect from Texas this weekend?

“Texas is such a fast mile-and-a-half and this year we have the new package, new engine, a lot of new things. Every team is obviously trying to get better with the new package and this is the second mile-and-a-half this year, so we’ll start to see which teams are really making progress since we’ve all had a few couple of weeks to work on the new package. SHR has really been working hard to make our cars faster and to drive better. Texas will be interesting, that’s for sure.”

Tony Raines is your spotter this season and it’s your first time working with him. How is that going?

“Tony is a new voice for me to hear as my spotter. We’re still getting used to each other and I’m gaining a lot of trust in his voice. He worked with Kurt (Busch) in the past and what Kurt liked and what I like are different, so we’ve been working a lot on what I need him to tell me and those types of things. I like for Tony to tell me a lot of information, like, what the people in front of me are doing that’s working for them so it can help me make decisions on how I think I should be getting around the track.”