Suarez may face NASCAR penalty for COTA post-race incident

Suarez was running in the top-five and in contention for the win as the race went into the first of three two-lap overtimes, but got shoved off the course and into Martin Truex Jr. heading up the hill to Turn 1.

The contact was instigated by his Trackhouse Racing team-mate Ross Chastain bumping into Bowman, who then hit Suarez and sent him into Truex.

Both Truex and Suarez ended up stopped briefly on the track and both lost numerous positions in the collision. By the final overtime, they ended up 17th (Truex) and 27th (Suarez) respectively, while Bowman and Chastain finished third and fourth. 

On the cool-down lap after the race, a frustrated Suarez knocked Chastain out of the way before following Bowman down pit road after slamming into the back of his Hendrick Chevrolet several times.

After exiting his car, Suarez also engaged in animated conversations on pit road with Chastain as well as Bowman.

A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed on Monday that the sanctioning body was looking into Suarez’s actions on pit road. Any penalties would likely come early this week.

Intentionally damaging another vehicle on pit road can bring a loss of 25 to 50 driver and/or team owner points and/or a $50,000 to $100,000 fine.

“He just thought I drove in and tried to drive through him,” Bowman said of his discussion with Suarez.

“I had the corner made. Only reason I was inside of [Suarez] was to protect from [Chastain]. Then [Chastain] just hammered me in the corner, dumped me, then I ran into [Suarez], kind of cleaned him out.

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Ally Chevrolet Camaro and Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing, He Gets us Toyota Camry

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

“Daniel and I, we’ve been team-mates in the past, raced together a long time.

“I respect the hell out of him. I’m sure he’s still not super-happy. Just tried to explain that I wouldn’t race him like that, that I was shoved in there.”

After the race, Trackhouse co-owner Justin Marks wrote on his Twitter account: "This whole NASCAR thing is a strain on my adult heart."

Chastain took his maiden NASCAR Cup victory in last year's COTA race, while Suarez underlined Trackhouse's potential on road courses by breaking his duck at Sonoma.

The race was won by Tyler Reddick's 23XI Racing Toyota, while 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button beat Kimi Raikkonen to the honour of best road course ringer by finishing 18th after struggling with heat exhaustion.