Ross Chastain Calls Out Former Teammate Daniel Suárez Over Lack of “Accountability” After Explosive Las Vegas Incident
Mar 18, 2026 | 1:49 PM EDT
Ross Chastain Calls Out Former Teammate Daniel Suárez Over Lack of “Accountability” After Explosive Las Vegas Incident
Mar 18, 2026 | 1:49 PM EDT
Imago
Image Credits: Imago
Imago
Image Credits: Imago
How quickly things change in NASCAR. Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez went from teammates to rivals earlier this year. But five races into the season, they’ve turned from rivals to foes. Following their controversial moment in Las Vegas, the former Trackhouse Racing teammates have been firing shots at each other. And the latest one has come from Chastain.
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Chastain looks back on incident with Suarez in Vegas
During the Cup race at Las Vegas last Sunday, Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain came together a handful of times on the track. But it all culminated in a moment where Suárez went to confront Chastain, but the #1 driver seemingly shoved his former teammate and said a lot of things. Those things, Suárez later recalled, hurt him and made him lose respect for Chastain, calling him “two-faced.”
Following that, Ross Chastain took his turn to share his thoughts on his side of the story. While he claimed he would’ve handled things differently from his part, he would have also liked Suarez “taking accountability.”
“I’ve known Daniel for a long time, have lived it inside of our four walls, that there’s not enough accountability and there wasn’t post race,” Chastain said.
Insider John Newby tweeted about this, saying, “Ross Chastain says he would have handled Vegas differently if he had the opportunity. Says he wouldn’t have swerved into Daniel Suárez’s car after the race.”
The two were battling for 17th place when Chastain doorslammed Suarez on the cooldown lap. Take a look:
Here’s a closer look at moments from Sunday’s race involving @RossChastain and @Daniel_SuarezG. pic.twitter.com/qdjszmwwxg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 16, 2026
It’s worth mentioning that over the course of his Cup career, Ross Chastain has developed a reputation for being an aggressive racer. But on top of that, he has also had some incidents off the track where he lost his cool. Apart from the recent one involving his former teammate, a notable one was Chastain punching Noah Gragson in 2023 after a heated exchange.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Chastain-Gragson incident, Daniel Suárez claimed that whoever starts a fight wins it. “They stop the fight after that. People get involved — pit crew, officials, security, I guess if you’re going to fight, you have to start it,” he added.
While Suárez’s comments on starting a fight to win a fight are from 2023, he did mention an intention to start it with Chastain in Vegas on Sunday.
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Daniel Suárez could’ve thrown a punch at Ross Chastain
In a video posted on his YouTube channel where he reflected on his weekend in Las Vegas, Daniel Suárez shared his thoughts on the Chastain incident. He claimed he had known the #1 driver for a long time and had come to know that they were very different people.
Despite that, Suárez said he has always respected Chastain. But after what he said in Vegas, Suárez said he has lost that respect, and that it wasn’t a good look for the Trackhouse driver. Moreover, the Spire driver claimed he could’ve taken things to a physical confrontation level, but held himself back for a specific reason.
“I was getting fired up to fight but what I was going to gain? I mean there is nothing to gain with that,” he said.
Later, in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90, he did mention how that would’ve not been the case before. “I was actually very proud of myself and the way that I handled the situation, because probably the Daniel from three years ago would have kicked his butt.”
In the same interview, he said that if he wanted to fight Chastain, he knows the #1 driver won’t “last five seconds,” which makes him wonder what he’d gain from such a thing.
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