NASCAR CUP SERIES NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES MAY 30, 2026 |
Daniel Suarez, driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: Talk about what your week’s been like since that epic race last weekend.“Yeah, just we just got back from LA and I’m still trying to figure out where I’m at (laughs). But yeah, obviously it was a lot of fun to celebrate with the No. 7 team and everyone at Spire Motorsports. It was a very special win. To be able to bring the car full of confetti, along with the trophy, the ring and all those things, back to the KBM shop, I would say it was the highlight of the week. It was very, very special. I felt like I enjoyed it a lot and the entire team enjoyed it a lot. We celebrated the victory for a few days, but now it’s time to move on, right? We have another task today and tomorrow. Yesterday, we were in LA for the premiere of my documentary, which I can’t wait for you guys to see it hopefully very soon. It was very special to see it on the big screen with a lot of friends and people that helped make this project happen. That was a lot of fun. We flew on a red eye here, which is why I’m a zombie right now (laughs). But yeah, it was great and I’m looking forward to hopefully get on track here in a couple hours.” This weekend starts the second-half of the regular season. From your perspective, what do you and the No. 7 team need to accomplish over this next 13 weeks to give yourselves a shot at really contending in the Chase? “Yeah, I mean, I think that we have to continue to improve our overall program, right? I think the No. 7 team has shown good speed. I still feel like we have a little bit of work to do, from Saturday’s to Sunday’s. I feel like our Saturday’s have been pretty strong with practice and qualifying. But we still have a little bit of work to do from Saturday’s to Sunday’s. We’re there, right, I would say 50 percent of the time. But we still have a little bit of work to do on the other 50 percent of the time. Sometimes we just put ourselves a little bit behind. Eventually we get it right and then we see the potential of the car. But we still have a little bit of work to do. There has been a lot of changes on our pit crew, so we just need a little bit of time with a new group to get some more reps and do things right. The last couple of weeks, the pit crew has been working very, very hard. With that being said, the last couple of weeks, we’ve had issues. We crashed in the All-Star Race qualifying because of a loose wheel, and we had a loose wheel on the first stop in the Coca-Cola 600 that put us behind, as well. We won the race, but we still have a lot of work to do. For me, that’s something that I’m not forgetting about and I’m really pushing my team to continue to push in those areas to continue to improve because every single team out there is going to continue to get better, so we have to continue to move the bar higher and higher.” How can you utilize this weekend to ride the momentum from the victory last weekend and still find those ways to improve this weekend at Nashville? “To me, momentum is key in this sport and in any sport, right? The energy and the spirit of the entire team is very high and that helps a lot. That’s a huge step forward already. With that being said, that’s not going to fix the problems, right? We don’t have like huge problems. We’re a very competitive team. We’re not 10th in points by a lot. We’ve been a competitive team for the entire first few months of the season, so we just have to continue to be honest with ourselves and to analyze the areas of improvement and put a plan together to improve those areas. Like I said, the guys on my pit crew have a lot of talent, we just need a little bit of time. And in that process, we can’t have loose wheels. If I hadn’t detected the loose wheel last weekend, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now with a win. It’s just one of those things that we just have to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses and go to work on the weaknesses.” Spire Motorsports has won two races this season between you and Carson (Hocevar). Where do you see this organization going by the end of the season between you and Carson? “And Michael (McDowell), as well. Michael has been doing a good job lately. They’ve gotten the No. 71 program better. I believe Michael is going to get much better here very soon, and hopefully, we can get him in victory lane. I don’t know about you guys, but for me, it’s not a surprise. I saw this coming from Spire Motorsports from the outside looking in since last year, and that’s why I joined this organization. This team has been hiring great talent. They have a very good foundation, which is being led by Jeff Dickerson, Bill Anthony and a lot of great people. When you see something like this, the team keeps growing and good sponsors are supporting the program, it’s just going to continue to get better because the foundation is strong. The structure is solid. I’m not surprised that we are to this point. With that being said, we still have work to do. In my mind – yes, we won last weekend and we did an amazing job executing the race at the end, but we still have a little bit of work to do. We just have to continue to push, continue to get better and continue to be honest with ourselves on the areas that we still have work to do.” When you look at the top-10 of the standings, it’s pretty tight with the points. Are you to the point where you guys can look at the drivers you can pick off, especially if you can get some bonus points with more wins further down the road? “To be honest, I haven’t looked at the standings in like three months. The only reason why I know where I’m at is because you guys talk about it and post about it on social media (laughs). But I just don’t pay attention to that. I’m the kind of driver that, I can only control one thing. I don’t know who’s around me in points… I promise I don’t know. Actually, I do know. I know that Carson (Hocevar) is ahead of me, but I don’t even know by how many points. But I can’t control those cars. My goal is to maximize the potential of the No. 7 team and continue to work on the areas that still have some room for improvement. If we do that properly and we do our job right, the points are going to take care of themselves. It’s a consequence, you know? We just have to make sure that we do our weekly job right with the No. 7 team and those things are going to take care of themselves. But the other cars around me in points, I’m going to race everyone the same out there. So yeah, we just have to continue to work, and if we do that right, the points are going to take care of themselves.” Daniel, statistically this is the best start to a season that you’ve had. Why do you think it was so instant with the No. 7 team?“I mean, it’s just fast cars, man. That’s what it is. I was actually talking to my old crew chief, Squid, which I love that guy. He’s at Penske now. He was with me for two years at Trackhouse. We were just talking about the differences of things that he’s experiencing on his end and that I’m experiencing on my end. You know, we wish things were different when we got to work together. But timing of things, it’s crazy how things work, right? Yeah, we won a race together, but we were extremely inconsistent as a team. We never knew what we were going to have. This race two years ago, we were super-fast. And this race last year, we were like a 32nd-place car. I was driving the same, so I don’t know. I just think that it’s everything about the people that you have around you and the timing of things. Spire Motorsports is definitely is on the rise right now, and I have a great group of people around me.” I know you don’t necessarily care about what other people think or saying in the garage and how they view your race team, but do you personally have any sense of maybe validation this year of just what you’re able to do and showing people what you can do because the last couple years, whether you heard them or saw them, there was critics, right? I mean, everybody has them. So, I’m just curious if you feel any better about being able to show this year that I can drive a race car, so to speak? “100 percent. But the person that I wanted to show that I can do it is right here. I wanted to show it to myself. I knew it, but I wanted to prove to myself like, hey, you can do this. The biggest weakness of the No. 99 team last year was qualifying. This year, that has been actually one of the strengths of the No. 7 team. I spent a lot of time last year trying to qualify better and we struggled a lot. And right now, I feel like we qualify very, very strong every week. I think that, yes, definitely validation. But not to everyone else, it’s to me. This is to myself. Just to prove to myself that I can do this. And obviously, when you are competitive, you’re in front and when you are able to go through adversity and pull off a win like we did last week, it’s just very special because you just prove that we just belong here. It’s just a matter of having the right people, the right leadership and the right car to be able to get it done. I have mentioned this in the past. You can be the best driver in the planet and if you don’t have the right people, you don’t have the right car, you don’t have the right everything, you’re not going to do it. You know, we’re not running at 100 meters. We’re not running at 500 meters. We depend on so many things. So, that’s the part that sometimes it’s hard to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, especially in the Cup level because every team that is competitive, that is winning races, they’ve worked very, very hard for years to be able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I believe that we have something going on good here at Spire Motorsports. I can’t wait to continue to improve it because I believe that we still have room for improvement.” I know you were pretty pumped to get that Coca-Cola machine. Do you know where you’re going to keep it yet?“Yeah, I already have a spot for it in the garage where I have all my cars, trophies and stuff. The Coca-Cola 600 for me, personally, is the most special race of the year. The main reason of that is because that’s the only race that my family gets to come to see every year. You know, it’s kind of like a family reunion because they stay at the house and they come with me to the race. I don’t take that for granted. Every time that we have the Coca-Cola 600, for me, I don’t know if you guys noticed, but I have a bigger smile because I have my family there with me. It’s always a special race for me. Obviously, I’ve been a part of the Coca-Cola Racing family for already 10 years. And then, it’s a race that is just not a race, you know? It’s not just a race. It’s Memorial Day weekend. We are remembering all the men and women that have served this amazing country. So, it’s just, to me, as a weekend, it’s just the best one. That’s just my opinion. And to be able to win it in a week that, as we all know, was very, very difficult, honoring my dear friend Kyle (Busch), that he meant so much to me, it was super, super special.” After the next two races at Michigan and Pocono, we go to the two west coast road course races in a row. Coronado, which nobody’s been at, and Sonoma, where you’re a former winner. First of all, have you had a chance to run the sim on Coronado? It looks like a pretty long technical road course. Have you been able to make any impressions on that? And do you think that this is a part of the schedule that favors you?“I have seen the layout in pictures, but I have not seen it in the simulator yet. I’m actually really looking forward to it because I feel like it’s going to be a new task. It kind of reminds me of three years ago when we went to Chicago for the first time. It was a lot of new things, a lot of new challenges, which I’m really looking forward to it. And yeah, I truly believe that we have a good bunch of races coming up for us. And I say coming up for us because my team has had a good past with these races. You know, my No. 7 team was fast here in the past. They were fast in Michigan. I believe that our road course program on the No. 7 team is getting much better, especially because we’re learning more from the No. 71 team. The No. 71 team is doing an amazing job on the road course program, so we are trying to bounce ideas and trying to get closer to them. That’s why I believe that Michael is going to get much better here very soon. It’s good. I feel like we have a good bunch of races coming up for us, and hopefully we can make the most out of it.” |
NASCAR CUP SERIESNASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTESMAY 30, 2026 |
Daniel Suarez, driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: Talk about what your week’s been like since that epic race last weekend.“Yeah, just we just got back from LA and I’m still trying to figure out where I’m at (laughs). But yeah, obviously it was a lot of fun to celebrate with the No. 7 team and everyone at Spire Motorsports. It was a very special win. To be able to bring the car full of confetti, along with the trophy, the ring and all those things, back to the KBM shop, I would say it was the highlight of the week. It was very, very special. I felt like I enjoyed it a lot and the entire team enjoyed it a lot. We celebrated the victory for a few days, but now it’s time to move on, right? We have another task today and tomorrow. Yesterday, we were in LA for the premiere of my documentary, which I can’t wait for you guys to see it hopefully very soon. It was very special to see it on the big screen with a lot of friends and people that helped make this project happen. That was a lot of fun. We flew on a red eye here, which is why I’m a zombie right now (laughs). But yeah, it was great and I’m looking forward to hopefully get on track here in a couple hours.” This weekend starts the second-half of the regular season. From your perspective, what do you and the No. 7 team need to accomplish over this next 13 weeks to give yourselves a shot at really contending in the Chase? “Yeah, I mean, I think that we have to continue to improve our overall program, right? I think the No. 7 team has shown good speed. I still feel like we have a little bit of work to do, from Saturday’s to Sunday’s. I feel like our Saturday’s have been pretty strong with practice and qualifying. But we still have a little bit of work to do from Saturday’s to Sunday’s. We’re there, right, I would say 50 percent of the time. But we still have a little bit of work to do on the other 50 percent of the time. Sometimes we just put ourselves a little bit behind. Eventually we get it right and then we see the potential of the car. But we still have a little bit of work to do. There has been a lot of changes on our pit crew, so we just need a little bit of time with a new group to get some more reps and do things right. The last couple of weeks, the pit crew has been working very, very hard. With that being said, the last couple of weeks, we’ve had issues. We crashed in the All-Star Race qualifying because of a loose wheel, and we had a loose wheel on the first stop in the Coca-Cola 600 that put us behind, as well. We won the race, but we still have a lot of work to do. For me, that’s something that I’m not forgetting about and I’m really pushing my team to continue to push in those areas to continue to improve because every single team out there is going to continue to get better, so we have to continue to move the bar higher and higher.” How can you utilize this weekend to ride the momentum from the victory last weekend and still find those ways to improve this weekend at Nashville? “To me, momentum is key in this sport and in any sport, right? The energy and the spirit of the entire team is very high and that helps a lot. That’s a huge step forward already. With that being said, that’s not going to fix the problems, right? We don’t have like huge problems. We’re a very competitive team. We’re not 10th in points by a lot. We’ve been a competitive team for the entire first few months of the season, so we just have to continue to be honest with ourselves and to analyze the areas of improvement and put a plan together to improve those areas. Like I said, the guys on my pit crew have a lot of talent, we just need a little bit of time. And in that process, we can’t have loose wheels. If I hadn’t detected the loose wheel last weekend, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now with a win. It’s just one of those things that we just have to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses and go to work on the weaknesses.” Spire Motorsports has won two races this season between you and Carson (Hocevar). Where do you see this organization going by the end of the season between you and Carson? “And Michael (McDowell), as well. Michael has been doing a good job lately. They’ve gotten the No. 71 program better. I believe Michael is going to get much better here very soon, and hopefully, we can get him in victory lane. I don’t know about you guys, but for me, it’s not a surprise. I saw this coming from Spire Motorsports from the outside looking in since last year, and that’s why I joined this organization. This team has been hiring great talent. They have a very good foundation, which is being led by Jeff Dickerson, Bill Anthony and a lot of great people. When you see something like this, the team keeps growing and good sponsors are supporting the program, it’s just going to continue to get better because the foundation is strong. The structure is solid. I’m not surprised that we are to this point. With that being said, we still have work to do. In my mind – yes, we won last weekend and we did an amazing job executing the race at the end, but we still have a little bit of work to do. We just have to continue to push, continue to get better and continue to be honest with ourselves on the areas that we still have work to do.” When you look at the top-10 of the standings, it’s pretty tight with the points. Are you to the point where you guys can look at the drivers you can pick off, especially if you can get some bonus points with more wins further down the road? “To be honest, I haven’t looked at the standings in like three months. The only reason why I know where I’m at is because you guys talk about it and post about it on social media (laughs). But I just don’t pay attention to that. I’m the kind of driver that, I can only control one thing. I don’t know who’s around me in points… I promise I don’t know. Actually, I do know. I know that Carson (Hocevar) is ahead of me, but I don’t even know by how many points. But I can’t control those cars. My goal is to maximize the potential of the No. 7 team and continue to work on the areas that still have some room for improvement. If we do that properly and we do our job right, the points are going to take care of themselves. It’s a consequence, you know? We just have to make sure that we do our weekly job right with the No. 7 team and those things are going to take care of themselves. But the other cars around me in points, I’m going to race everyone the same out there. So yeah, we just have to continue to work, and if we do that right, the points are going to take care of themselves.” Daniel, statistically this is the best start to a season that you’ve had. Why do you think it was so instant with the No. 7 team?“I mean, it’s just fast cars, man. That’s what it is. I was actually talking to my old crew chief, Squid, which I love that guy. He’s at Penske now. He was with me for two years at Trackhouse. We were just talking about the differences of things that he’s experiencing on his end and that I’m experiencing on my end. You know, we wish things were different when we got to work together. But timing of things, it’s crazy how things work, right? Yeah, we won a race together, but we were extremely inconsistent as a team. We never knew what we were going to have. This race two years ago, we were super-fast. And this race last year, we were like a 32nd-place car. I was driving the same, so I don’t know. I just think that it’s everything about the people that you have around you and the timing of things. Spire Motorsports is definitely is on the rise right now, and I have a great group of people around me.” I know you don’t necessarily care about what other people think or saying in the garage and how they view your race team, but do you personally have any sense of maybe validation this year of just what you’re able to do and showing people what you can do because the last couple years, whether you heard them or saw them, there was critics, right? I mean, everybody has them. So, I’m just curious if you feel any better about being able to show this year that I can drive a race car, so to speak? “100 percent. But the person that I wanted to show that I can do it is right here. I wanted to show it to myself. I knew it, but I wanted to prove to myself like, hey, you can do this. The biggest weakness of the No. 99 team last year was qualifying. This year, that has been actually one of the strengths of the No. 7 team. I spent a lot of time last year trying to qualify better and we struggled a lot. And right now, I feel like we qualify very, very strong every week. I think that, yes, definitely validation. But not to everyone else, it’s to me. This is to myself. Just to prove to myself that I can do this. And obviously, when you are competitive, you’re in front and when you are able to go through adversity and pull off a win like we did last week, it’s just very special because you just prove that we just belong here. It’s just a matter of having the right people, the right leadership and the right car to be able to get it done. I have mentioned this in the past. You can be the best driver in the planet and if you don’t have the right people, you don’t have the right car, you don’t have the right everything, you’re not going to do it. You know, we’re not running at 100 meters. We’re not running at 500 meters. We depend on so many things. So, that’s the part that sometimes it’s hard to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, especially in the Cup level because every team that is competitive, that is winning races, they’ve worked very, very hard for years to be able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I believe that we have something going on good here at Spire Motorsports. I can’t wait to continue to improve it because I believe that we still have room for improvement.” I know you were pretty pumped to get that Coca-Cola machine. Do you know where you’re going to keep it yet?“Yeah, I already have a spot for it in the garage where I have all my cars, trophies and stuff. The Coca-Cola 600 for me, personally, is the most special race of the year. The main reason of that is because that’s the only race that my family gets to come to see every year. You know, it’s kind of like a family reunion because they stay at the house and they come with me to the race. I don’t take that for granted. Every time that we have the Coca-Cola 600, for me, I don’t know if you guys noticed, but I have a bigger smile because I have my family there with me. It’s always a special race for me. Obviously, I’ve been a part of the Coca-Cola Racing family for already 10 years. And then, it’s a race that is just not a race, you know? It’s not just a race. It’s Memorial Day weekend. We are remembering all the men and women that have served this amazing country. So, it’s just, to me, as a weekend, it’s just the best one. That’s just my opinion. And to be able to win it in a week that, as we all know, was very, very difficult, honoring my dear friend Kyle (Busch), that he meant so much to me, it was super, super special.” After the next two races at Michigan and Pocono, we go to the two west coast road course races in a row. Coronado, which nobody’s been at, and Sonoma, where you’re a former winner. First of all, have you had a chance to run the sim on Coronado? It looks like a pretty long technical road course. Have you been able to make any impressions on that? And do you think that this is a part of the schedule that favors you?“I have seen the layout in pictures, but I have not seen it in the simulator yet. I’m actually really looking forward to it because I feel like it’s going to be a new task. It kind of reminds me of three years ago when we went to Chicago for the first time. It was a lot of new things, a lot of new challenges, which I’m really looking forward to it. And yeah, I truly believe that we have a good bunch of races coming up for us. And I say coming up for us because my team has had a good past with these races. You know, my No. 7 team was fast here in the past. They were fast in Michigan. I believe that our road course program on the No. 7 team is getting much better, especially because we’re learning more from the No. 71 team. The No. 71 team is doing an amazing job on the road course program, so we are trying to bounce ideas and trying to get closer to them. That’s why I believe that Michael is going to get much better here very soon. It’s good. I feel like we have a good bunch of races coming up for us, and hopefully we can make the most out of it.” |