Daniel Suarez will compete full-time in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season with Gaunt Brothers Racing, the team announced Tuesday evening (Jan. 28).
Suarez will drive the No. 96 Toyota Camry with Coca-Cola and CommScope as primary sponsors.
“It’s great to be back with Toyota and back in the NASCAR Cup Series,” said Suarez in the team’s press release. “My NASCAR career started off really well, and Toyota was a very big part of that. To have them in my corner again gives me a lot of confidence. Gaunt Brothers Racing has something to prove and so do I. We’re committed to each other and we’re going to build each other up.”
This makes three teams in four Cup seasons for Suarez — he previously drove the No. 41 car for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2019 and Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota from 2017-18. He has eight top fives and 32 top 10s in his Cup career.
Suarez is the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, earning three wins, 19 top fives and 27 top 10s that year.
This season marks the first time GBR will attempt every points race, running part time the past three years. In 2019, the team competed in 15 events, with Parker Kligerman and Drew Herring piloting the No. 96.
“We’ve been working toward this moment since Gaunt Brothers Racing joined the Cup Series in 2017,” said Marty Gaunt, president of Gaunt Brothers Racing. “We’ve made steady improvement every year, but bringing Daniel on board allows us to take a giant leap forward. We’re investing in each other. He’s not content to just be here and neither are we. We’ve been very strategic in everything we’ve done, and between our partnership with Toyota and the resources now available to us, we can take that next step and deliver for Daniel and all of our partners.”
Dave Winston will be Suarez’s crew chief. He previously served as an engineer for Richard Childress Racing and was Alex Bowman’s crew chief in 2014 and Michael McDowell’s in 2016.
Suarez and GBR will not compete in the Busch Clash on Feb. 9 and will instead prepare for the Daytona 500.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
I’m predicting multiple wins for Suarez in 2020 ?
He probably won’t even get a top 5 finish all year. I think of him as the Mexican Danica.
Yes! So happy he got a ride! Daniel will do great things this year!
Sarcasm?
I mean he’s with a third tier team. Not sure what you think he’s going to do in it. Finishing on the lead lap will be a challenge most weeks.
He and bubba will be duking it out. IF Daniel qualifies
But they will both get paid…….hopefully.