Daniel Suarez will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet for the NASCAR Cup Series team Spire Motorsports again in 2027.
The Mooresville team announced the contract extension on social media on Tuesday, Oct. 13. At Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, Suarez said the deal had been done for a while and that contract talks began about four months ago.
Suarez, 34, won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Through 32 races he has that win, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He is in the Chase, NASCAR's 10-race championship playoff, and came into the Phoenix weekend 14th in the standings, 215 points behind the leader.
Jeff Dickerson, who owns the team with Dan Towriss, told him that a year ago Suarez and Spire were "like the last two kids in the dance floor" with no one to dance with, Suarez said.
"A year ago right now, there were not many options either for me or for him," he said, adding that both sides saw potential.
Suarez said the goal is a real shot at a championship soon and that the team is already talking about what to change over the winter. To beat Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports, he said, Spire is "going to need one more step or two."
With four races left, he said, a top-10 finish in the standings is "achievable for us, very achievable" if the team does everything right.
Suarez said he came to Spire a generation between teammates Carson Hocevar, 23, and Michael McDowell, 41, and could "connect the dots" between them.