NASCAR fined Daniel Suárez $50,000 for running into the back of Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman on pit road following the Cup Series race Sunday at Circuit of the Americas. NASCAR did not dock Suárez points.
Suárez was upset with contact on a late-race restart where this Trackhouse Racing teammate Chastain got into Hendrick Motorsports’ Bowman and Bowman then got into Suárez.
‘Where is the No. 48 and No. 1?’
Listen in on Daniel Suárez and the No. 99 team during the final and cool-down laps at COTA.
Suárez had words with both afterward and was obviously frustrated where a potential top-five finish ended up as a 27th-place day. On his in-car radio after the race, Suárez asked his team where the Chastain and Bowman cars were and sped past several cars on the cool-down lap to get to them as they entered pit road.
“We were going to win the race and I just hate that I race people aggressive, clean and then I get dumped like that,” Suárez said following the race. “That’s not real racing.”
NASCAR has traditionally fined drivers for similar actions. It fined Ty Gibbs $15,000 last year for hitting another car on pit road following an Xfinity Series race. He was then fined $75,000 and his team docked 25 owner points when he intentionally retaliated against Ty Dillon on pit road during a Cup race at Texas — the severity of the penalty was in part because it was his second violation of the year. Fines in Cup typically also are larger than that for Xfinity because the purse money in Cup is significantly more.
Hitting another car on pit road is a safety issue — there were officials near the vicinity of Bowman’s car (as well as crew members further away on pit road) and a driver after the race possibly already has started unbuckling the restraint system.
During the offseason, NASCAR did increase the possible penalties for damaging another car on pit road to include more severe penalties.
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The Suárez issue was the first time to see whether NASCAR would add points to the punishment for a postrace incident since the change in the rules, which now appears more than likely was designed to deter what Gibbs did to Dillon on pit road rather than a driver bumping another car on pit road after the race.
Suárez can appeal the penalty but is not expected to appeal. NASCAR policy is to take the money it collects in fines and puts it into the NASCAR Foundation.
Bowman tried to explain to Suárez what happened after the race Sunday.
“The only reason I was inside of the 99 [of Suárez] was to protect from the 1 [of Chastain passing me],” Bowman said. “Then the 1 just hammered me in the corner, dumped me, then I ran into the 99, kind of cleaned him out.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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