Suarez penalized amid Cup Series post-race run-in at COTA

Daniel Suarez was assessed a $50,000 fine from NASCAR following his post-race actions from this past weekend’s Cup Series’ EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. The penalty stems from the 31-year-old star from Monterrey, Mexico, bumping into the rear bumper of Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports entry on pit road at the conclusion of the event in Austin.

The issue occurred during the second of three overtime attempts, when Bowman, who restarted on the fourth row and inside the top 10, made a move to the left side of Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing entry for position entering the first turn’s braking zone. Through the braking zone, Suarez’s teammate, Ross Chastain, bumped and pushed Bowman into Suarez, which the contact carried forth into Suarez hitting Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. as Truex was sent for a spin while Suarez jammed on the brakes to avoid Truex. In doing so, he was relegated to the tail end of the lead lap field and limped his No. 99 entry back to pit road with a flat left-front tire.

At the conclusion of the event, which was extended to a third overtime restart before being won by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Suarez, who was poised for a top-five run, finished in 27th place while Bowman and Chastain proceeded to finish third and fourth, respectively. During the cooldown lap, however, Suarez tracked both competitors and bumped into the rear of Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse entry prior to entering pit road, where he then proceeded to hit Bowman’s rear bumper three times before the latter jammed on the brakes with NASCAR officials present near the contact. Suarez would exchange brief words with Bowman before expressing his displeasure towards his teammate Chastain.

Despite being fined for violating Sections 4.4.B&D pertaining to NASCAR Member Conduct from the NASCAR Rule Book, Suarez was not issued any points penalty. He is currently situated in 17th place in the driver’s standings, 13 points below the top-16 Playoff cutline, on the strength of three top-10 results through the first six events on the 2023 Cup Series schedule.

Suarez’s next event on the 2023 Cup Series schedule is set to occur this Sunday, April 2, at Richmond Raceway, with the event’s broadcast time to commence at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

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