As expected, Daniel Suárez has officially been named the driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Suárez was introduced as the latest driver added to the Spire Motorsports lineup in a press conference conducted at NASCAR Productions in Concord, NC.
Suárez, 33, takes over the ride from Justin Haley, who Spire Motorsports announced would not return to the car a week ago.
¡Bienvenido, Amigo!@Daniel_SuarezG will pilot the No. 7 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026 with @Freeway_Ins serving as the anchor partner for the No. 7 team.
?: https://t.co/cuAY1u8OVY pic.twitter.com/wnfCQIYq5Q
— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) October 22, 2025
Freeway Insurance, a longtime sponsorship partner, will join Suárez in his move to Spire Motorsports as the anchor partner in 2026. Freeway will kick off its 2026 season of sponsorship with the season-opening Daytona 500.
“Daniel has been an incredible ambassador for our brand,” said Cesar Soriano, CEO of Freeway Insurance, in a press release. “As someone who’s proudly served, I believe in teamwork, discipline, and perseverance — the same qualities Daniel brings to the track every week. His determination, authenticity, and connection to fans mirror what Freeway stands for — helping people move forward with confidence. We’re proud to continue supporting him as he joins Spire Motorsports and look forward to growing together both on and off the track.”
For Spire Motorsports, this gives the organization a proven NASCAR Cup Series race winner behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, which has lagged behind the team’s other two cars this season.
“Yeah, I mean, I think his resume speaks for itself,” Jeff Dickerson, Spire Motorsports co-owner, said of Suárez in the press conference. “He’s been a mainstay in the garage for several years. And look, I think, when it came down to it, it’s just a thing where I think we need each other. I was kind of drawn to the, I think all of us love a story of redemption, and giving people a platform to prove doubters wrong. In this case, we think that Daniel needs to show everybody that this year was an outlier, and we want to show everybody that the No. 7 car’s performance this year was an outlier as well.”
Suárez, who has two-career wins (Sonoma 2022 and Atlanta 2024), joins a Spire Motorsports driver roster comprised of Michael McDowell, also a two-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner, and Carson Hocevar, who has been honing in on his first career win all season long.
While Suárez has been tapped to be the guy to elevate the performance of the No. 7 team, this opportunity also gives the native of Monterrey, Mexico, a chance to regain his footing in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks after being shuffled out at Trackhouse Racing, a team he helped build when he was one of the first people hired by Justin Marks leading into the 2021 season.
Suárez is over the moon about landing at Spire Motorsports, a team that he has seen continual growth in over the last handful of years.
“To me, it was a no-brainer,” Suárez said of signing to drive for Spire. “If you look at the last three years, how Spire Motorsports has grown in the last three years. I mentioned this to Jeff [Dickerson], I said, ‘Jeff, three years ago, I probably wasn’t looking at Spire Motorsports as an option. Right now, I believe this is the fastest-growing team in NASCAR, and I want to be part of that.’ I know that they’re not even close to being done, they’re just getting started.”
With the emergence of Shane van Gisbergen, who has captured five road course wins during his rookie NASCAR Cup Series season this year, and Connor Zilisch, a Trackhouse Racing development driver who has 10 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins this year, the pressure has continually built for Suárez all season long.
In July, Suárez announced that he would not return to Trackhouse for the 2026 season. A month later, Zilisch was officially introduced as one of the three full-time 2026 NASCAR Cup Series competitors for Trackhouse.
After two race wins and two Playoff appearances in five seasons with Trackhouse Racing, Suárez will look to bounce back from a frustrating 2025 campaign as he attempts to prove to everyone why he is someone who deserves a full-time ride in NASCAR’s top division.
Haley, who scored the first, and to date only, win for Spire Motorsports at Daytona International Speedway in 2019, rejoined the organization after stints with Kaulig Racing and Rick Ware Racing in a late-season driver trade with the Ware team in 2024.
In 41 races behind the wheel of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Haley has registered just three top-10 finishes, two of which have come at superspeedway tracks, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
The driver kicked the 2025 season off with legendary crew chief Rodney Childers calling the shots for his race team, but that relationship only lasted nine races, as Childers departed the Spire Motorsports team following a 13th-place result in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
