Daniel Suárez wasn’t pleased with the end of the Echopark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
In Overtime, Suárez got hit by Alex Bowman, sending Suárez into Martin Truex Jr. Truex spun and Suárez was stuck behind him. It wasn’t exactly Bowman’s fault. Bowman only got into Suárez because Ross Chastain hit him from behind. And Chastain only hit Bowman because Chase Briscoe was hitting him. It’s a chain reaction crash that’s bound to happen when cars drive on a track that funnels into a hairpin corner.
Around goes Truex! pic.twitter.com/n83JSa0v3b
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 26, 2023
Nevertheless, that turned a potential top-five into a 27th place finish for Suárez, and he was looking to talk to someone after the race. As you can see on his roof camera, Suárez sped up after the race to get to Bowman’s back bumper as cars entered pit road. Suárez was apparently so enraged that he bumped his teammate Chastain out of the way to get to Bowman.
.@Daniel_SuarezG not happy with @Alex_Bowman. He raced to catch up (even booted his teammate out of the way) and hit the back of the 48. No real confrontation, though. #NASCAR | #NASCAR75 | #EchoParkGP pic.twitter.com/ZszBAALAhs
— JJ (@TomcatNASCAR_2) March 26, 2023
Not only did Suárez and Bowman have a discussion after the race, but Suárez also had one with his teammate Chastain.
Suárez might’ve lost a bunch of points on Sunday with the Truex spin, but his post-race actions on pit road might make things worse. Because there are people on pit road, there’s a rule about intentionally hitting other cars while on pit road. Suárez hit Bowman rather aggressively and close to a NASCAR official.
There is precedent to indicate a fine and points deduction for Suárez is coming. Last September, Ty Gibbs drove into the path of Ty Dillon in close proximity to other crew members and NASCAR officials. Gibbs wasn’t penalized points as he wasn’t collecting Cup Series points last season, but he was fined $75,000 and the #45 Toyota from 23XI Racing was docked 25 points in the owner’s championship.
Will Suárez get something similar? A penalty decision will likely be made sometime Tuesday.
