Daniel Suárez expressed some frustration towards fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor Alex Bowman following the completion of the race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), where he gave Alex Bowman the chrome horn treatment as the two drivers entered pit road.
Daniel Suárez speaks to NASCAR.com following the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway via NASCAR YouTube
Suárez’s in-car camera shows him blowing past Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. before he reaches the entrance to pit road.
Upon reaching the entrance to pit road, he hits his teammate Ross Chastain to move him out of the way. After passing Chastain, Suárez slams into the rear of Bowman’s car twice. As the two come to a stop, he gives Bowman two more love taps.
Bowman would be asked by FOX Sports’ pit road reporter Jamie Little about words he and Suárez had following the race.
Bowman explained, “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.”
https://youtu.be/Lulx7X2Ze7c
“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,” Bowman concluded.
Alex Bowman via Skewcar YouTibe
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Despite Bowman’s claim that he made the corner, video replay shows Bowman dive bombing the corner before he received any contact from Chastain. However, he does appear to make the dive in order to block Chastain, who had moved low to block Chase Briscoe.
Nevertheless, Chastain does make contact with Bowman, but at nearly the same time Suárez drives into the rear of Kyle Busch as he attempts to make the turn. Busch is able to make the turn, but Bowman’s contact with Suárez sends him into Martin Truex Jr., who spins and then blocks Suárez from being able to continue.
https://youtu.be/D1q9dLEJ-qQ
Bowman did eventually admit 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.”
Suárez would have words with Chastain, but it’s unclear what exactly was exchanged between the two. Chastain can be heard telling Suárez, “Don’t get all high and mighty.”
Suárez does mention Bowman, but much of his commentary is inaudible.
Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports did report Suárez said at one point after the race, “We were going to win the race and I just hate that I race people aggressive, clean and then I get dumped like that.”
He added, “That’s not real racing.”
Suárez ended up finishing the race in 27th while Bowman finished in third.
NASCAR Cup Series drivers wreck during second attempt at NASCAR Overtime at Circuit of the Americas via NASCAR YouTube
What do you make of Suárez rouging up Bowman after the race? What do you make of Bowman’s comments about the contact that led to Suárez getting stopped up behind Martin Truex Jr.?