The pressure is piling on Daniel Suárez. The Trackhouse Racing star is driving for his future in the Cup Series, as his contract expires at the end of the year. However, the results of the opening four races have left much to be desired, as the Mexican hasn’t finished higher than 13th so far, which was at the season-opening Daytona 500. The race in Phoenix was particularly disappointing, as the No. 99 Chevy racer incurred an on-track collision with Katherine Legge at ‘The Desert Oddball.’

The incident robbed Suarez of a potential top-ten finish at the Shriners Children’s 500. In a candid interview ahead of the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week, Suarez reflected on NASCAR’s decision to allow Legge to race while drawing comparisons to former part-time drivers.

Daniel Suarez wants NASCAR to be more selective

Katherine Legge is a motorsports legend. She holds the record for the fastest Indy 500 qualifying as a female driver and specializes in open-wheel racing. Now, having competed in the Xfinity Series in the past, Legge wanted to dip her toes in the Cup Series. However, her lack of experience in a Cup Series car was glaring at Phoenix, and Daniel Suarez bore the brunt of her actions.

The stage was set for Daniel Suarez. The Mexican native was running sixth at Phoenix Raceway during the closing laps, hopeful of finally getting his season going after a lackluster start. Unfortunately, lady luck was not on his side at ‘The Jewel of the Desert’, as he was spun off turn two on Lap 216. Not only did the incident rob the Trackhouse Racing driver of a potential top-ten result, but Katherine Legge was forced to incur a DNF in her one-off Cup Series appearance. Instead of blaming the former IndyCar racer, Suarez blasted NASCAR for allowing drivers with “no experience” to compete at the highest level.

It’s a stance Daniel Suarez doubled down on in a recent interview as well, saying, “Driving in NASCAR is just different than any other discipline… I think there is room for improvement in the process to approve drivers. We’re talking about the most competitive, the most prestigious stock car racing series in the world, and it shouldn’t be easy to compete in the Cup Series.” Aside from spinning Suarez out of the race, Legge also spun out herself during the opening laps, losing grip on her steering. This seemed like evidence enough that Legge was not ready for the Cup Series, at least on oval tracks.

Well, Legge had the requisite experience to race at Phoenix, but there just wasn’t enough time for her to get used to the car. Some believe that she would have probably had a more favorable outcome if she raced at the Circuit of The Americas road course the week prior. Suarez makes this point, too, when he talks about Shane van Gisbergen. Suarez added, “Road course is a completely different world. I’m talking more about ovals. I think road course, Shane [Van Gisbergen] for example, he came and he kicked out b—… So I think it’s a completely different deal.”

The Kiwi native lit up the Cup Series on his debut at the Chicago Street Race in 2023 by taking the checkered flag and stunning everyone. However, his struggles on ovals are apparent to this day, which shows that, like Suarez said, road courses are the exception to this, and Legge could have probably chosen her race better.

Earlier this year, NASCAR prevented Mike Wallace from competing at the Daytona 500, as the 65-year-old had not competed on intermediate or longer tracks since 2015. Believing that lack of practice might prove dangerous while competing in the Cup Series, the sanctioning body took prompt action to deny his approval. The situation raises the question: How were Helio Castroneves and Katherine Legge approved to compete at the highest level as well, despite having a lack of experience in the stock car racing series?

As per NASCAR’s new rules, a ‘celebrity driver’ is automatically allowed to compete in Cup Series races at the sanctioning body’s discretion, a privilege Helio Castroneves enjoyed at the season-opening Daytona 500. Despite months of preparation and the veteran racer’s vast experience in IndyCar, Daniel Suarez said, “If you ask me if Helio was 100% ready? I don’t think so.” That just goes to show that even ‘world-class’ drivers can struggle to acclimatize, and the organization may need to look back at their selection process once again.

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Suarez fumes after Phoenix crash

The frustration was palpable. Daniel Suarez is fighting hard for his future in NASCAR, and every race counts in keeping his dream of competing in the Cup Series alive. It finally looked like his performances had turned a corner at Phoenix Raceway, only for the Mexican to be involved in an incident with Katherine Legge at the 1-mile Dogleg oval. The impact caused significant damage to his No. 99 Chevy, and he couldn’t help but say, “F–—— lappers, man. That is unbelievable.”

Despite only four races having passed by, the 33-year-old was at the center of another crash after being involved in an on-track incident with teammate Connor Zilisch at Circuit of the Americas. Blaming NASCAR for the on-track incident, Suarez said after the race, “Nothing against her, you know completely how I am. I hope girls can get into the sport, I hope. The problem is there’s nothing wrong with her. What is wrong is NASCAR. “They cannot allow somebody with no experience to run in the Cup Series, plain and simple. Plain and simple.”

While the NASCAR driver approval system in the National Series Ranks has become more stringent in recent years, Daniel Suarez still thinks the selection process needs to be stricter. Had Katherine Legge not been involved in the incident, the narrative would have been completely different, as fans would have lauded the veteran racer for making a decent debut. Unlike Helio Castroneves, Legge only knew about her participation in Phoenix 10 days before the race, giving her a limited amount of time to acclimatize to the Next-Gen car.

Could that have been the underlying reason behind the incident? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!