Wilmer Valderrama Teams With NASCAR for New Daniel Suárez Documentary

Daniel Suárez’s emotional homecoming to Mexico City is headed to television, and one of Hollywood’s most recognizable Latino stars is helping tell the story.

FOX Sports, NASCAR Studios and Wilmer Valderrama’s WV Alternative announced Monday that “SUÁREZ,” a new documentary centered on the NASCAR star’s journey from Mexico to the highest level of American stock car racing, will premiere Thursday, Sept. 17, at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.

Valderrama serves as an executive producer through WV Alternative, bringing a major Hollywood connection to a film built around one of the most personal weekends of Suárez’s career.

The documentary uses NASCAR’s historic 2025 Mexico City weekend as its centerpiece, but this isn’t simply a behind-the-scenes look at one race.

It traces how Suárez left Mexico to chase a NASCAR career in the United States, became the first Mexican-born driver to win a Cup Series race and eventually returned home as one of the country’s biggest motorsports stars.

For Suárez, that return carried considerably more weight than another weekend on the NASCAR schedule.

“Coming back to Mexico and racing in front of my home country was something I had dreamed about for a long time, but I don’t think I fully understood what it would mean until I was there,” Suárez said.

Daniel Suárez’s Mexico City Homecoming Becomes the Heart of New Film

NASCAR’s 2025 trip to Mexico City was historic before a car ever reached the track.

The Cup Series raced in Mexico for the first time, while the weekend marked NASCAR’s first championship event outside the United States since 1958.

For Suárez, it was something else entirely.

It was home.

“SUÁREZ” follows the three-time Cup Series winner back to the country where his racing career began, with access to Suárez, his family and the people closest to him. The film explores his upbringing in Monterrey, the sacrifices behind his move to the United States and the role his family played as he tried to build a career far from home.

Then came the kind of race weekend Hollywood couldn’t have scripted much better.

An accident during qualifying for the 2025 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race forced Suárez into a backup car and sent him to the rear of the field.

He won anyway.

With his home crowd behind him, Suárez drove through the field and won the race, turning an already emotional return to Mexico into one of the defining moments of his career.

“There were so many emotions that weekend, the pressure, the support from my family and fans, and thinking about everything I had gone through to get to that point,” Suárez said. “Mexico will always be a huge part of who I am, and being able to race there at the highest level was an incredibly meaningful moment in my life.”

His hope now is that viewers take something larger from the story.

“I hope people watching this film can understand where I came from, what this journey has meant to me and feel inspired to chase their own dreams, no matter where they start.”

Wilmer Valderrama Brings Hollywood to NASCAR’s Daniel Suárez Story

The project also represents another intersection between NASCAR and the entertainment industry.

Valderrama, whose acting career has included “That ’70s Show” and “NCIS,” executive produced the documentary alongside Jessica Acevedo of WV Alternative. NASCAR Studios and FOX Sports are also behind the project.

For Valderrama, Suárez’s story was about considerably more than racing.

“Daniel’s story is one of ambition, sacrifice and perseverance, the kind of story you hope to find and have the opportunity to tell,” Valderrama said. “We were honored to bring his journey to life and give audiences a deeper look at the person behind the driver.”

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Original Content John Dahl said Suárez’s story caught his attention as early as spring 2024, when NASCAR was still planning its Mexico City weekend.

That ultimately led NASCAR to filmmaker Mario Diaz and then to Valderrama’s production company.

“Daniel immediately understood the impact telling his inspiring story could have,” Dahl said.

Diaz directed “SUÁREZ,” with Valderrama, Acevedo, Tim Clark, Dahl and Tally Hair among its executive producers.

The film gets a special preview Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Deportes before its FS1 premiere Thursday night. It is also scheduled to become available on Tubi beginning Oct. 17 in the United States, Mexico and Latin American markets.

For NASCAR, the documentary arrives at an interesting moment.

The sport has increasingly pushed beyond the racetrack through documentaries, entertainment projects and major Hollywood crossovers. But Suárez’s story gives NASCAR something particularly powerful to work with: a driver who left his country to pursue a career that once seemed extraordinarily distant, then returned home as a Cup Series winner.

Mexico City gave Suárez his homecoming.

Now Hollywood is helping tell the story behind it.

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