The atmosphere was electric in Atlanta this past Sunday when Trackhouse Racing‘s Daniel Suárez broke his winless streak stunningly, racing to the finish line with two Cup Series champions side-by-side and edging out them both by mere inches. The Mexican driver shattered all expectations when he trounced Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney on the same night to rack his second Cup Series win, punching his playoff ticket for the second time.

Consequently, after his stellar win, the 32-year-old joined Dale Earnhardt Jr on his podcast – Dale Jr Download – where he reflected on his speedway triumph. Speaking on the popular podcast, Suarez also revealed his #99 team’s prostrate state the previous season, which eventually got him out of the tournament without even making it past the regular season.

He also revealed the man behind the “change,” his new crew chief popularly known as the “Squid” who got the team out of the rut and finally got him the early win and a free pass to the playoffs.

“We didn’t have a plan..” – Daniel Suarez dissects his dismal 2023 season 

The scene was so bright for the 2016 Xfinity Series champion last year when he failed to claim a win and had to go out of the tournament without making it past the regular season while his teammate, Ross Chastain, was making a name for himself. This surmounted massive pressure on Suarez and prompted him to get better.

Consequently, the #99’s crew chief, Travis Mack, was transferred to Kaulig Racing’s #16 team and a new crew chief was brought in for Suarez in the off-season. When asked about his change, the driver admitted that the change was indeed difficult, considering the bond between him and Mack. He said, “It was very difficult. It was very difficult because Travis was not just my teammate but he was also my friend. And he is still my friend, you know, and I care about him. I care about his family. We’re good friends. Not just on the race track but outside the racetrack.”

“But the reality is that last year we just did not perform the way that we wanted to perform and you know, I’m not blaming him. But we didn’t have a solution, you know, we didn’t have a plan, we didn’t know how we’re gonna fix it,” revealed the driver of his past season. He then detailed how Chastain’s performances mounted more pressure on him to live up to the expectations. 

He added, “I started getting pressure, everyone started getting pressure, the sponsor was putting pressure, and it was going on, why you guys are not winning? Like the #1 is doing and… It really puts in a corner where. We needed to do something.” And that is where his new crew chief came in. 

The ‘quiet’ guy behind the epic triumph

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As per Suarez, the credit goes to his new crew chief, Matt Swiderski, aka “The Squid.” During his conversation with Junior, Suarez briefly detailed how the crew chief change impacted the team and brought them out of dire straits. While he wasn’t discrediting his previous crew chief, Travis Mack, with whom he won his first Cup Series race, Saurez had high praise for Swiderski.

He said, “He has brought a different dynamic to it. He’s a different guy, he’s very quiet. Uh, Travis was the opposite, he was very outspoken which I loved. Squid is very, very quiet, he’s very engineer-driven. Well, he’s very smart, extremely smart, and also he’s very very well prepared. I’m actually impressed how well-prepared he’s heading to races, and how much knowledge he has heading to a race. He feeds me a lot of the information and so far, honestly, things are going very very well.” 

“Also we put a lot of work in the off-season. In the off-season, we got busy working to try to build this chemistry because we didn’t want to spend six months trying to build this communication,” revealed the driver, opening up about his dynamics with his new crew chief. 

READ MORE: 2024 Ambetter 400: Daniel Suarez Locks in Career Second Playoff Spot at Atlanta as Kyle Busch Goes Winless Again