Daniel Suarez bets 'a thousand dollars' to anyone who can correctly predict the NASCAR Darlington race winner

The 2022 Cup series season has been kind to Daniel Suarez, earning his first career win and a playoff spot. The Mexican driver will enter the 2022 playoff openers 13th in the points table. The event will go down this weekend at Darlington Raceway. Suarez will join his teammate Ross Chastain, who has plenty of on-track enemies in the battle to secure the championship.

The last time he visited the 'Lady in Black', he went home with a top 10 finish. Though he has admitted he is not perfect when running against the walls, Suarez feels he does an excellent job at Darlington. He recently appeared on the playoff media day, addressing several issues.

He went on to place a bet of thousands of dollars on anyone who was going to predict the race winner correctly. He also noted that if it was last year, Suarez said he could have pointed out a playoff winner. He said:

“With this car, if you’re telling me who will win Darlington and you get it right, I’ll give you a thousand dollars (laughs). I don’t think you’re going to get it right. There is not one guy. Anyone can be good. I love that about this car. It’s unpredictable. Everyone has an opportunity.”

Daniel Suarez has been one of the most competitive drivers this season; without a doubt, his team has done a marvelous job. During the interview, he didn’t shy away from saying that he deserved to be in the playoffs. According to him, with the team he has now, he feels like the least he can do is to be in the playoffs.

Besides his team, which has done a tremendous job on his #99 Camaro ZL1, Daniel Suarez has also cited this as one of the most unpredictable playoffs. According to him, with the new car, no one had an easy opportunity to carry the day.

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Daniel Suarez was penalized as the playoffs kick off at Darlington Raceway

The Trackhouse Racing driver, however, will seemingly kick off the playoffs opener on the wrong foot after being penalized three times before the qualifying race after his car failed inspections. Suarez will not only start the race at the rear of the field but his car chief Eddie D’Hondt Jr. will also be eliminated from the team.

On top of that, he will serve a pass-through penalty at the event's start and also lose pit stall selection. Despite the tough penalty, Daniel Suarez isn’t worried. Instead, he feels like the team has numerous adjustments to make before the race. Suarez is the second driver to face such a penalty after Kurt Busch, who was whipped during the season's early stages.

Being penalized in the playoffs, however, is the last thing a driver can wish for, and this will make Suarez work extra hard to get to the Round of 8.