After a lengthy, rewarding process, veteran NASCAR wheelman Daniel Suárez is officially an American citizen.
Suárez, a native of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, has been racing while in the process of procuring his American citizenship for the better part of the last decade. It’s something that he’s held close to his heart, and now he can rejoice, as his journey to becoming a U.S. citizen has finally come to a close.
The Trackhouse Racing wheelman is already feeling a little different, especially when listening to the National Anthem. It’s evident he’s taking a lot of pride in his immense accomplishment.
“It is different because now I feel like I have a little bit of a part in it,” Suárez said, upon hearing the U.S. anthem in Tuesday’s program, via NASCAR.com. “I don’t know if that makes sense. I don’t know, but it does feel a little bit different. It’s almost like, OK, now that’s part of myself.”
It’s only fitting that Suárez has officially become an American, because his story epitomizes the “American Dream” story that’s been told for generations, and that’s something that means a lot to Suárez.
“Honestly, a lot of people have been telling me that, and I don’t like to brag or anything like that, but I feel like it is,” Suárez added. “If you think about it, I came from a family with no money, I grew up in a small house, it was five of us with a two-bedroom apartment, a two-bedroom house with one bathroom. Like I grew up in a very humble family and a lot of people don’t know all the details.
“But to come here from being in Mexico, going to public school in Mexico and not having really much money, and coming here without speaking English, with not having the contacts, not having really the racing background, and being able to learn the language, making it to Drive 4 Diversity, racing in NASCAR, win races, win a championship and make it to the top of NASCAR in a sport that 15 years ago, every person that I knew, they were telling me that there was no way, that it was a very American sport. I feel like it is, and hopefully I can bring awareness to people to not let anyone tell you can’t.”
Moving forward, Daniel Suárez recognizes that Tuesday symbolized the beginning of something great for himself and the people around him, and he’s hoping his journey is one that inspires others with similar backgrounds to go through the process, as well.
More on Daniel Suárez, his path to becoming a U.S. citizen
Following the weekend that was at Iowa Speedway, Suárez spoke with the media about the process to becoming a citizen in the United State, and what the process meant to him over the last couple of years.
“It’s a very long process,” Suárez said, regarding the path to U.S. citizenship, via Deb Williams of Autoweek. “In a way, I’m glad it’s a long process because it shouldn’t be easy. I think that this is one of the best countries in the world and it shouldn’t be easy. I do think it should be a little bit cheaper. It’s pretty expensive to do the whole thing.”
Additionally, Suárez provided some insight into his timeline, and why the process took so long for the Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico native, as he was able to secure his citizenship while racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I could have done it sooner if I wanted to, but I never pushed the times as much as I could have,” Suárez added. “Then after five years, I had the option to apply for citizenship. So, it’s been a 10-to-12-year process for me.”
Continuing, the Trackhouse Racing driver gave some credit to his fiancé Julia Piquet for her help throughout the process, revealing that he enjoyed studying America’s vast history over his journey to citizenship.
“Honestly, the reason why I study is because it was fun,” Suárez explained. “I literally enjoyed learning about the history of the country … the governors, the representatives … all the history.
“Julia helped me a lot. She was kind of like my teacher and then we were having fun in the hauler wondering if the guys actually knew all of the history I was studying. So, we started asking questions at dinner. We actually had fun with it and because of that I was actually able to learn quicker.”
With his spot secured in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs due to a win in Atlanta, and his citizenship in America achieved, Daniel Suárez has had a phenomenal year thus far, and there’s no telling how much better it could get over the next couple of months.
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