DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daniel Suarez has already locked into the Chase, so he has removed some major stress before the regular-season finale. Yet, he has something equally pressing on his mind as he prepares for Saturday night's race.
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He and wife Julia are expecting their first child together, and they are officially on baby watch. Suarez just hopes that the baby cooperates with the schedule.
"My strategy, in my mind, is that if baby was coming like right now, I think it will be okay for me to skip qualifying," Suarez said on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. "That's just me saying that, just because it's a superspeedway.
"Any other weekend, I don't think that would be the case, especially being in the Chase. If it's Saturday or Sunday, I think it's going to be tough. Julia and I, we already had a conversation, but hopefully it's a Monday through Friday baby (laughs)."
The happy couple first revealed that they were expecting their first child together during the spring off-week. They posted a photo on social media while on the Greek island of Santorini and revealed their "mom" and "dad" hats.
Suarez and Julia have prepared for the birth of their first child ever since, all the while knowing that they would have to make some difficult decisions based on the due date.
They knew that the baby could arrive around the end of the regular season or the start of the Chase. This would put Suarez in a situation where he would have to make a decision about the best time to head to the hospital.
This could become quite difficult if it happens when he is preparing to contend for a championship.
"I think it's considered already full term because we are getting into 38 weeks, so it can happen anytime," Suarez said.
"She can call me right now and say, 'Hey, you have to come back. We'll see how things happen. Hopefully, things work out for me to be there.'"
The Spire Motorsports driver does not know if the baby will arrive during a race weekend or in the middle of the week, as he would prefer. He can't control that part of the process.
What he can do, however, is get a plan in place for the big day. This is something that he did before heading down to Florida for the race weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
"Last night I had my official hospital tour, and I'm ready to drive as quick as possible, whenever the moment presents," he said.
"Hopefully I'm home for that. I already know which floor I have to go, where I can park, where I'm going to chill, where I'm going to stress. I had an hour-and-a-half tour last night."
