New Headline: Suarez's 'Frozen' Strokes Set Racing World on Fire!
Ross Chastain (1) talks to Daniel Suarez (99) ahead of qualifying for the Sunday NASCAR EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, March 23, 2024 in Austin. © Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK Ross Chastain was not pleased with Daniel Suarez last Sunday, evident by the Trackhouse Racing driver’s demeanour towards his former teammate after the race.
But then, by Tuesday, at a roundtable inside the NASCAR Productions Facility, he broke his silence and laid out his side of the post-race flare-up, conceding he let it get out of hand while pointing to a relationship that has been on thin ice. Chastain addressed the chain of events that followed the checkered flag, including contact on the cool-down lap and a shove on pit road. He admitted he was seeing red at the time, and that he would handle it differently if given a second shot.
“I didn’t mean to. I would do that different if I could go back, and then I wouldn’t shove him for sure. I just was over the conversation that he was trying to have, wanted him to leave, asked him to leave, and didn’t leave, and wanted him to back up.
” Chastain stated that the lack of accountability, in his view, is what lit his fuse on pit road. “Was too close and just didn’t want to hear anything else he was saying because he wasn’t taking any accountability, and I wanted him to. ” The moment boiled over after a day where the Trackhouse Racing driver felt stuck in the pack, adding that frustration took the wheel.
“I’ve known Daniel now for a long time and have lived it inside of our four walls. There’s, in my opinion, not enough accountability, and there wasn’t post-race. And in the heat of the moment, I reacted definitely worse than if I had just a few minutes to calm down, getting out of the car.