And don’t buy into the assumption that, in promoting Suárez to fill the seat of departing Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing is making the same mistake it made in 2009 when the organization threw then-18-year-old Joey Logano into the deep end of the pool.
Laboring under the weight of replacing Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Toyota, Logano never blossomed at JGR. It took four years of seasoning and a move to Team Penske for Logano to realize his enormous potential in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car.
Suárez, on the other hand, is already 25, and possesses a ferocious work ethic matched only by his desire to learn – and learn quickly. Continue reading →
HUNTERSVILLE, NC – JANUARY 11: NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez talks about his future driving at NASCAR’s highest level during a press conference at Joe Gibbs Racing on January 11, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Bob Leverone/ Getty Images
The phone call interrupted Daniel Suarez’s lunch. He didn’t mind.
Team owner Joe Gibbs was calling with the surprising news that Suarez, winner of the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship last season, would be promoted to drive the team’s No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota in 2017 as a replacement for Carl Edwards.
Edwards had told Gibbs about his decision to leave racing during the Christmas holidays. Continue reading →
HUNTERSVILLE, NC – JANUARY 11: NASCAR driver Carl Edwards talks about his career in a stock car during a press conference to announce his retirement at Joe Gibbs Racing on January 11, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Bob Leverone/Getty Images
Calling at least a temporary halt to a career he described as “living a dream,” Carl Edwards confirmed Wednesday his decision to step away from driving race cars to pursue what he described as other adventures.
In a decision that shocked the NASCAR world, Edwards, 37, said he was leaving the Joe Gibbs Racing team and one of the best rides in stock car racing “because I’ve always followed my gut. All the signs point to this being the right thing to do.”
Daniel Suarez will be elevated from the NASCAR XFINITY Series operation at JGR to replace Edwards in the No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota.
Edwards would not rule out returning to racing in the future, but, during a 37-minute news conference in which he was near tears, he emphasized that many other things – at this point not identified – have his attention.
He said he is satisfied with his driving career, which includes 28 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup victories and an XFINITY Series championship. He barely missed a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup title twice. Continue reading →
1949: NASCAR’s first “Super Team,” consisted of car owner Raymond Parks (L), mechanic Red Vogt (C) and driver Red Byron (R). The trio captured the first-ever NASCAR title, the 1948 Modified championship, then went on this year to take home the first NASCAR Cup championship. Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images
As one of early stock car racing’s most successful car owners, it is appropriate that Raymond Parks captured the first two championships offered by the fledgling National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, an organization Parks helped form in 1947.
Parks and his driver, Red Byron, won NASCAR’s modified title in 1948. The pair, along with mechanic Red Vogt, became the sanctioning body’s 1949 Strictly Stock champions – the initial season of what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
The Dawson County, Georgia, native and his racing team were gone from NASCAR after 1955, winning just twice. But Parks, who died in 2010 at the age of 96, was seen as one of the sport’s seminal figures and a visionary.
“He set the standard. Mr. Parks brought the sport class,” said NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty in a speedwaymedia.com interview shortly after Parks’ death. “It took people like Mr. Parks to lay the foundation we’re living off of.
“And without him, we wouldn’t have the history we have and we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Parks’ contributions will be celebrated Jan. 20 in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN). His fellow inductees among the Hall’s Class of 2017 are Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Mark Martin and Benny Parsons. Continue reading →
