Ross Chastain’s First Public Statement About Daniel Suarez Confirms Frosty Relationship Between the Two
· Yahoo Sports
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.
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“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. Definitely a day of struggling through the mid-teens when we expect more out of the #1 car, causes me to just not have as much I guess wit to able to burn,” he said.
He did not try to dress it up, saying flat out that his reaction crossed the line and did not sit right with him after the fact. Looking at the bigger picture, Chastain pointed to a history that runs deeper than one weekend. The two spent years under the same roof at Trackhouse Racing, sharing space and time, with stretches where things clicked and others where they went their own way.
Those better days were short-lived, and the cracks have shown again in recent seasons, including past run-ins at Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma Raceway. Of late, Suarez has had the edge on track, and the No. 1 driver suggested their paths may not cross as often if that trend holds.
Even so, Chastain tried to reach out to Suarez after the incident, though those attempts have not led anywhere. It remains to be seen if this off-track squabble turns into something bigger on track, or whether either driver decides to take the high road.
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