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Bob PockrassNASCAR
INDIANAPOLIS — Daniel Suarez has heard all the rumors about his future. The thing he feels good about, however, is his belief that he does indeed have one in NASCAR.
Whether that’s with Joe Gibbs Racing, he won’t say, as the NASCAR Silly Season dominated the chatter at Indianapolis while the rain fell and postponed both the Xfinity and Cup races to Monday.
“I’m not really allowed to say a lot about it,” Suarez said Sunday. “You will have to talk to somebody from Joe Gibbs. Everything happens for a reason. I think we’ll be in good shape.
“I don’t know [about returning to JGR], man. Everything is a possibility right now. Everything is in the air. Nothing is signed. Nothing is on paper.”
Martin Truex Jr. is expected to join JGR for next season, and Suarez is the expected driver to get pushed out despite having a deal that was supposed to go through 2019. Crew chief Cole Pearn is expected to join Truex, as Toyota wanted to keep them together after the closing of Furniture Row Racing.
Pearn, Truex’s agent and JGR declined to comment on whether the 2017 Cup champion driver and crew chief would join the organization. JGR has had an alliance with Furniture Row the past three seasons, so the teams and crews know each other well.
“I would be fine with [Truex joining JGR],” said JGR driver Kyle Busch, the 2015 Cup champion. “It would be a smart move for him, a good move for him.
“We’ve obviously got a strong squad. He knows that. … He’s last year’s champion and there’s no reason he couldn’t be successful anywhere else, too.”
That has created another twist in the NASCAR silly season. Toyota has made overtures to have Leavine Family Racing join its stable, but the team has not made a decision for next season.
And while Toyota might want Suarez to land there, Suarez — 20th in the series standings — probably wants to see if there’s anything better out there than a team that has driver Kasey Kahne at 27th in the standings. Kahne is retiring after this season.
“Just a lot of rumors — I see a lot of the things the same way you guys [do],” said Suarez, the 2016 Xfinity Series champion who was elevated to Cup a year earlier than planned when Carl Edwards retired in January 2017. “We should be OK.”
Sponsor Arris has been with Suarez throughout his career, but Suarez said he didn’t know if he could take that sponsorship to another team.
“I don’t know,” Suarez said. “All I can tell you is I have a great relationship with them. They like me a lot. We have a good friendship, but I don’t have anything connected with them [contractually]. They pretty much are with the team.”
Among the available rides for next season are the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 car and the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 car, as both Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch don’t have deals done for next year.
McMurray declined to give any insight into what he could do in 2019, and Busch said he is still weighing two offers. In discussing his situation, he wouldn’t say which team teams have offered him deals.
“It doesn’t make a difference if I announce who it is from or who it is,” Busch said. “To me, it’s a matter of just making sure it’s competitive to where I’m racing for wins, racing for a championship.”
Last year, Busch didn’t settle on returning to SHR until last December.
“I would expect it to be done sooner than December, but I just don’t know when things will all be perfect,” Busch said.
There are other drivers not signed for next year, including Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman.
Matt DiBenedetto, who is 30th in the Cup standings, said he won’t return to Go Fas Racing. He said he has seen what other drivers have done by putting them into select competitive rides, even if not at a full-time basis.
“I will be actively talking to anyone and everyone to explore all potential options,” said DiBenedetto, who has nothing signed for next season. “It was just time to let everyone know how serious I am about continuing my journey to competing at the highest level of NASCAR.