It’s been an awkward start to the 2026 season for Daniel Suarez, a current Spire Motorsports driver and former Trackhouse Racing driver. Through the opening five NASCAR Cup Series point races of the season, the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet has encountered at least one on-track incident with each of the three drivers in the Trackhouse Racing stable.
Sunday in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Suarez found himself racing in tight quarters with Ross Chastain, who served as his teammate at Trackhouse Racing from 2022 until Suarez’s departure at the end of the 2025 campaign.
The heated on-track battle in the closing laps led to Chastain slamming into Suarez’s No. 7 machine on the cool-down lap after the race, and as the two drivers climbed from their cars on pit road, they got into a jawing match with one another, and Chastain shoved Suarez.
Just a quick post-race … chat … for Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez ? pic.twitter.com/fWbi5uXKCS
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 15, 2026
Suarez, who finished 18th, spoke to the media following Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 and explained that Chastain was upset about getting squeezed a bit in Turn 2 as the two drivers were battling for position in the closing laps.
“We got together a little bit in corner 2, and he was mad about it,” Suarez noted.
While many have felt there was a bit of animosity going on between Suarez and the Trackhouse cars through the opening few races of the 2026 season, Suarez opened up after the race as he said that he felt his relationship with Chastain was always a bit strange, and he accused Chastain of being two-faced towards him.
"Our relationship has always been a little weird, almost like a little bit two-faced of his part."@Daniel_SuarezG on his chat with Ross Chastain post-race.#NASCAR
Presenting Partner: @MyPlaceHotels pic.twitter.com/T0mMkwWUEf— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 15, 2026
“I was having a conversation, and he was always spun out. He just said something. I mean, for some reason, our relationship has always been very weird, almost like a little bit two-faced on his part, for some reason,” Suarez said. “And today, I saw actually, what I thought he had in his mind for a while. But I mean, I don’t have any hard feelings for anyone. I’m just doing my thing, having a great time. But it’s just sad that he thinks that way.”
While it isn’t totally clear what words were exchanged between Suarez and Chastain on pit road following Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, at one point, it looks like Chastain says that Suarez was fired, obviously, in reference to his departure from Trackhouse Racing at the end of last season.
Suarez says he’s not worried about what Chastain or anyone else thinks about him and that he will continue his focus on doing the best he can on every given weekend for his Spire Motorsports team.
“But listen, at the end of the day, this isn’t my first rodeo,” Suarez said. “I have had to go through a lot to be able to get to this point, and that’s the journey I’ve had to take to be here from another country. That’s just part of it.”
After Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, Suarez ranks 17th in the championship standings, and his season point total (117) is tied with Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, who holds the final slot inside the cutline of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase standings.
In the pre-season exhibition event, the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Suarez had run-ins with van Gisbergen.
At Circuit of the Americas, Suarez collided with Connor Zilisch, which sent Zilisch spinning from a position inside the top-10. And this week at Las Vegas, he found Chastain on track.
Chastain ranks 20th in the championship standings after Las Vegas and sits 23 points below the Chase cutoff. Zilisch, a Rookie of the Year contender, is mired back in 35th in the standings, 67 points below the cutline after a miserable start to the season.
Suarez, Chastain, and Zilisch have 21 races remaining until the Chase to work their way inside the top-16 of the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
