NASCAR penalized Daniel Suárez $50,000 for his post-race incidents with Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Daniel Suárez speaks to NASCAR.com following the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway via NASCAR YouTube
During the second attempt at NASCAR Overtime during the race, Suárez became the victim of circumstances as the entire pack raced to the first turn. Suárez would get hit by Bowman and then run into Martin Truex Jr., who spun out in front of him blocking him from proceeding and costing him numerous positions.
It all started Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, and Alex Bowman all tried to get to the inside of each other on the restart. Bowman’s block on Chastain saw him dive bomb to the inside of Suárez. With Bowman clearly not going to make the corner, he received some contact from Chastain that sent him into Suárez.
Suárez then collided with Martin Truex Jr. as the rest of the field scrambled to find their way around the two.
https://youtu.be/D1q9dLEJ-qQ
RELATED: WATCH: Daniel Suárez Gives Alex Bowman The Chrome Horn On Pit Road Following The Race At COTA
Following the spin, Suárez’s anger was directed at his teammate, Ross Chastain, and Alex Bowman. On his in-car radio, Suárez says, “What the f***the 48? He’s there man, he just went straight and the 1 pushed him against me.”
He later asked, “Can anyone explain to me what the 1 was trying to do there?” Still later he said, “It’s like the 48 didn’t even try to make the f***ing corner.”
He went on to say, “Unf***ing believable. I can’t wait to get to the 48 and the 1. I wanna kick their asses.”
Following the end of the race, Suárez asked about the location of both Bowman and Chastain, “Hey, where’s the 48 and the 1?” After being informed they were in second and fourth, Suárez raced through the field until he got to the bumper of Chastain.
He proceeded to hit him as he was about to enter pit road. After moving Chastain out of the way. He went right after Bowman and hit him multiple times on pit road.
After exiting his vehicle Suárez would confront both drivers and engage in some heated conversations.
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Given his actions on pit road, NASCAR announced in a blog post, “NASCAR fined Daniel Suárez of Trackhouse Racing $50,000 for a behavioral penalty after a post-race incident March 26 at Circuit of The Americas. The sections cited in the NASCAR Rule Book were 4.4.B&D NASCAR Member Conduct, contact with another vehicle on pit road after the race.”
The blog post specifically cited Suárez’s running into Bowman and Chastain, “After the cooldown lap of the NASCAR Cup Series race at COTA, Suárez repeatedly contacted the back bumper of Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet as the duo entered pit road, moments after nudging teammate Ross Chastain aside to get to Bowman.”
The post added, “The collision between Suárez and Bowman took place feet from a NASCAR official near pit entrance who was directing drivers where to go. Suárez hit Bowman’s car twice before Bowman brake-checked the No. 99 car.”
Daniel Suárez gives Alex Bowman the chrome horn following the conclusion of the race at Circuit of the Americas via NASCAR YouTube
Following the race, Bowman admitted he dive-bombed the corner saying, ““The problem is if you don’t peek out and bomb the guy in front of you, the guy behind you does it to you. So what do you do there? It’s not right. The way we race is embarrassing and if twelve year-olds were doing it we’d be yelling at them, but here we are saying it’s the best thing in the world on TV.”
He previously told FOX Sports’ pit road reporter Jamie Little what he and Suárez discussed after the race, “He just thought I drove in and tried to drive through him. … I had the corner made. The only reason I was inside of the 99 was to protect from the 1. And then the 1 just hammered me getting into the corner, dumped me, and then I ran into the 99 and kind of cleaned him out.”
Bowman added, “So Daniel and I, we’ve been teammates in the past, we’ve raced together a long time. I respect the hell out of him,” Bowman said. “I’m sure he’s still not super happy, but just tried to explain that I wouldn’t race him like that, and that I was shoved in there. You see that a lot at these road courses like Indy last year Harvick was super mad at me and crashed me and then he watched the video and he’s like, “Man, I crashed the wrong guy.”
“Sometimes just chain reaction, but fortunately it worked out for us and ended up with a top five,”he concluded.
https://youtu.be/Lulx7X2Ze7c
What do you make of NASCAR fining Daniel Suárez for his post-race incidents with Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman?