NASCAR
Pitbull Finally Got to Celebrate With Daniel Suarez, and It Was a Blast
John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sports7 in 2020. A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.
All posts by John MorielloUpdated01 Jul 2022
While making money understandably also matters, one of the great joys of owning a team is experiencing the joy of winning. In NASCAR, we frequently see team owners taking part in the celebrations moments after the checkered flag comes down.
Pitbull has been missing out on the fun this year at Trackhouse Racing, where Ross Chastain has triumphed twice, and then Daniel Suarez won at Sonoma heading into the Cup Series’ scheduled week off.
On Tuesday, the team tweeted footage from its celebration of Suarez's win, with Pitbull pitching a taco piñata straight to Suarez. The results were outstanding.
A busy Pitbull missed the celebrations
Year 2 of Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series has been a major success by any measure. Ross Chastain scored victories at Circuit of the Americas in March and Talladega in April. Last week was Suarez’s turn as he won on the Sonoma road course.
The drivers got creative in their celebrations. Chastain smashed watermelons on the track after each of his wins, and Suarez followed suit by breaking open a taco-style piñata.
In the aftermath of each, Justin Marks offered the winning owner’s comments to the media after partaking in the celebrations. That’s because acclaimed rapper Pitbull (real name: Armando Perez), Marks’ partner at Trackhouse, was fulfilling commitments related to his career and other business interests.
“When Armando said, ‘I'm going to be at every race', that was an expression of passion, not scheduling, right?” Marks said at Talladega, according to CBS Sports. “Look, I mean, it's Pitbull, right? He's touring, recording songs.”
Well, Pitbull finally caught up with his team at their shop and made up for lost time with Suarez.
Pitbull serves up a piñata to Daniel Suarez
Upon winning at Sonoma, NASCAR Cup Series driver Daniel Suarez cracked open a small taco piñata by throwing it to the ground, which isn’t the way we’re used to seeing it done.
Sometime since Suarez’s victory, Trackhouse co-owner Pitbull stopped by the shop to do it slightly more conventionally. Piñata, meet bat. Pitbull served up the piñata, and Suarez took a mighty swing. The result was candy and money strewn all over the shop floor as the full team looked on.
As they often say, a fun time was had by all.
However, it’s back to business this weekend as the Cup Series kicks off the second half of its season in Nashville.
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