Suarez fined $50,000 for COTA pit road collisions

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | March 29, 2023 9:39 PM ET

Daniel Suarez has been fined $50,000 for running into Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman on pit road at Circuit of The Americas.

Suarez was fined but not issued a point penalty. He was penalized under the behavioral section of the NASCAR rule book.

After the checkered flag in Sunday’s race, Suarez caught Chastain and knocked him out of the way as they came to pit road. Suarez was looking for Bowman, who he also ran into the back of — doing so multiple times — as the field slowed to follow the direction of NASCAR officials of where to park.

Suarez was unhappy because of contact on the overtime restarts in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Suarez was running inside the top five when Bowman ran into the back of him after Bowman was hit from behind. He finished 27th.
The action got predictably heated on COTA’s late restarts. Motorsport Images

There were no physical confrontations on pit road, although Suarez had a conversation with both Chastain and Bowman.
Yeah, I called them MF'ers. They really were. Crashing into my car. Then NASCAR charges ME a fine! $50 grand!


“There’s a lot of emotion on pit road after the race,” team owner Justin Marks said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier this week. “Obviously, Daniel was just stewing in his emotions on that cooldown lap and it didn’t stop after he hit the 48. He got out of his car and saw Ross there and knew Ross was a part of that train that was coming in and wanted to express his emotions to Ross. It’s part of the competitiveness of the series. Calling them MF'ers is just part of the competitiveness.”