Daniel Suarez Officially Announced as Driver of Gaunt Brothers No. 96 Car For 2020

On Tuesday, Gaunt Brothers Racing and Daniel Suarez finally made it official. The 28-year old driver will be moving to the team’s No. 96 Toyota Camry to run the full NASCAR Cup Series season in 2020. The team announced the news with a press release.

“It’s great to be back with Toyota and back in the NASCAR Cup Series,” said Suárez in a team 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.”

On January 17th, TobyChristie.com was the first to report that multiple sources had confirmed that the deal between Suarez and GBR was done.

For team president, Marty Gaunt, this is the culmination of the hard work that his team has put in since 2017.

“We’ve been working toward this moment since Gaunt Brothers Racing joined the Cup Series in 2017,” said Gaunt. “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, a former RCR engineer who last served as a crew chief for Leavine Family Racing in 2016, will move to GBR to take on the role of crew chief for Suarez.

TobyChristie.com first reported that Winston had landed this position on January 22nd.

According to the team release, Coca-Cola and CommScope (the parent company of ARRIS and Ruckus Networks) will provide sponsorship for the effort.

Suarez and GBR will forgo the Busch Clash, despite being eligible, in an effort to focus their efforts on the Daytona 500.

Suarez, a native of Mexico, who has driven for two of the power house organizations in the sport — Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing — throughout his young NASCAR Cup Series career, will now have the chance to pilot GBR’s machines in their first attempt at a full-time NASCAR Cup Series season.