Mexican-American NASCAR driver Daniel Suárez has revealed the struggles he faced after arriving in the USA in 2011, the biggest one being the language barrier, as he didn’t speak English. Despite the odds, he made it to NASCAR and celebrated his first home race yesterday in Mexico, winning the Xfinity Series race.
Unlike many young NASCAR drivers who began racing through family support and financial backing, Suárez arrived in the USA without knowing English and was unable to rent a home on his own.
The NASCAR driver made history yesterday by winning the Xfinity race in Mexico, which marked the sport’s first international points race since 1958. Ahead of his win, Suárez opened up to ‘The Athletic,’ speaking to Jeff Gluck about his struggles upon arriving in America. When asked about his life’s most challenging phase, he said:
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“In 2011, I came to the United States and I didn’t have anything. I was living with friends of friends, and I couldn’t even rent an apartment because I didn’t have Social Security and I didn’t speak English.
“Somebody asked me, ‘Hey, what has been the biggest challenge in your racing career?’ And they didn’t believe me when I said to them, ‘learning English.’ I’m being serious. I’ve had a lot of very, very big challenges, but learning English was the one challenge where I was a little bit scared. I knew I didn’t want the language to be the reason why I wasn’t going to have a real shot at it.”
Suárez had to start the race from the back at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit after a crash in the qualifying session destroyed his car, prompting him to use the backup vehicle. While the challenge was a mountainous one, he made his way through the pack to secure his race win. Addressing his victory in the post-race interview, the 33-year-old driver said:
“For me, just racing here, just the fact that we have this amazing event here, it means the world. To be able to win the race, I mentioned this a few days ago, I’m living a dream.
“Just over 10 years ago, I left this country just trying to find opportunities in the United States with nothing. No English, nothing. I just feel very, very blessed. I’m very happy for everything we were able to accomplish today.”
He added:
“This win is not just for me, and it’s not just for Quaker State, it’s not just for my team. It’s for every single person who has worked so hard the last few years, because this event is not possible because they started working on it 12 months ago. They’ve been working on this for years.
“I feel so fortunate to have these roots and to have chosen NASCAR. 10 years ago, I had to make a decision – either NASCAR or going to Europe. I wanted to go to NASCAR. I’m so happy with that decision.”