FORT WORTH, Texas — Daniel Suarez has certainly never lost his confidence, and he’s already feeling more relaxed and happier in his first NASCAR Cup season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Only six races in with his new team, Suarez is coming off his second top-10 finish.

“It’s always good to be with a group of guys like this. Last year, I wasn’t unhappy, it was just a little bit different, and this year I just feel more relaxed ... just to do my thing,” he said Friday. “I feel like now we are consistent, moving in the right direction.”

Suarez qualified fourth for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, the NASCAR track closest to his hometown of Monterrey, Mexico, just under 600 miles away. He had a group of about 10 friends making the trip from Mexico to TMS to watch him race.

“It’s the only race track that actually my family and friends, they can drive from my hometown. It’s always cool,” said Suarez, 27. “So it’s always fun to come to Texas.”

After two Cup seasons and 21 top-10 finishes with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team for which he won the 2016 Xfinity championship, Suarez needed a new ride after 2017 Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. was hired by JGR.

His second chance at NASCAR’s top level came when he replaced Kurt Busch in the No. 41 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing.

“It’s been average. I think it’s been OK,” Suarez said about his season. “There’s a lot of room to improve, but I don’t want to sweat it yet. We have a lot of potential to do good things with this car. ... We still need some speed, some just raw speed, but we’re going to get there.”

Suarez, who advanced through NASCAR’s diversity program, is the only non-American full-time driver at the Cup level.

He started karting in 2002 and won the Mexican national championship five years later. He won 10 races in the NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series in 2008 then moved to North Carolina to pursue NASCAR’s national level.