DOVER, Del. — Remaining apologetic continues to be Ross Chastain’s takeaway one week removed from his on-track incident with Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez at Sonoma Raceway.
Chastain’s No. 1 Chevy tangled with Suárez’s No. 99 machine on Lap 45 in Turn 11 during last Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the California road course, resulting in the latter falling from 14th to 29th in the running order; Suárez later finished the contest in 14th, while Chastain tallied a 24th-place result.
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The Florida native mentioned Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway that he’s had conversations with Suárez and the No. 99 team during the week and that he meant no ill will regarding the maneuver, taking responsibility for the incident.
“It is just conversations,” Chastain said, “and I’m not gonna let one bad instance get in the way of a lot of good times. One bad time is not gonna affect that for me, and Daniel and I’s relationship will survive.
“I wrecked him, I mean, he should be upset, that team should be upset. So I went to the crew chief and him, and wanted them to make sure they knew that they knew. I wanted to make sure that, like, it was the last thing I wanted to do. And for the first half of the brake zone, I thought I was fine. And then the second half of the brake zone, I realized I’m going too fast, and I should have reacted better, and I didn’t. So that’s just a non-negotiable to wrecking, spinning teammates out. We had conversations this week.”
Chastain — who additionally made his apology known on the June 16 episode of the “Like a Farmer” podcast — understands both perspectives, whether it be on the committing or receiving end of any particular conflict. To the 32-year-old, bringing the right intention to any conversation regarding an on-track incident is critical as opposed to attempting to rectify a situation that has already occurred.
“I don’t try to solve things. The thing already happened,” Chastain said. “When I’m on the other side of it, I just don’t need people coming to me and explaining their side or anything. I can watch the video, I know what I felt and saw in the car, and get some outside perspective, but I don’t need the other driver to come say a lot, so I think I’m in the very much minority of that.
“So, I have to go talk to other people. I don’t ever know for sure if I gave them all that they were looking for, but I just know the intention is there. If I say, I’m sorry, or whatever the thing is. I know earlier in the season, I had a couple guys that I felt like had gotten into me a couple times. I didn’t wreck, but gotten into me, and it was starting to be a pattern. And like, I’ve already forgot, like all that, all those scenarios, so I just don’t hold that in my memory like other guys, I feel like.”
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Chastain enters Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover (4 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 10th in the playoff standings, with one victory — the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway — in his 2025 ledger. Suárez, meanwhile, sits 29th in the playoff table, 139 points below the elimination line. Suárez and Trackhouse announced July 1 that they had mutually agreed to part company at the end of the 2025 season.