The recently concluded Las Vegas race saw Daniel Suarez come up against his former teammate, Ross Chastain, and confront him. This not only shocked the fans, given how they were previously teammates, but also made them raise their eyebrows, given how Suarez often stays away from such confrontations. Amid this, Dale Jr.’s star driver shared his thoughts, snubbing NASCAR’s popular culture.

Rajah Caruth offers his explanation and take on the incident

In the recent Rubbin’ is Racing podcast, Rajah Caruth opened up about the Las Vegas incident, where Suarez confronted Chastain due to their on-track antics during the race. He explained that the confrontation, followed by physical altercation, is not worth the risk.

“You got to take a deep breath after the race cuz it’s so easy,” Caruth said. “You cross the checkered flag and you’re like, “That guy, he just pulled up in front of me or drove on the back of me, or drove into my door. It takes a deep breath to be like, “All right, I should not go and hit him after the race because I’m damaging not only my car, but their car. Probably going to get fined. Not worth it.”

Following this, the JR Motorsports star driver brought forth his own experience and connected it to the incident. Speaking on it, Caruth further added that he will not lose his composure over it. Here’s what he stated:

“From my experience, cuz I’ve done that before. I’ve confronted somebody after a race or been confronted, and all the emotions are high. Is it going to be a productive conversation? No. Is it gonna be good for TV? Yes. So, it’s just a matter of who you are and if you feel like it’s worth it at the moment. But personally, I’m the type of person that I’m gonna take the high road.”

Notably, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez were teammates at Trackhouse Racing. But coming into 2026, Trackhouse released Suarez to make way for Connor Zilisch, and as a result, Suarez moved to Spire Motorsports.

At Las Vegas, like every other race this season, they started as rivals. As the race went on, Chastain pulled off a move on Suarez and doorslammed him. Angered, the Mexican driver decided to approach and confront his former teammate.

As they stood face to face, they started pushing each other, before officials intervened. Although NASCAR officials stopped the altercation, according to a leading NASCAR executive, it is not a crime.

NASCAR executive supports confrontation, says drivers have the right

As the Las Vegas Motor Speedway incident got traction, Brad Moran, the NASCAR Cup Series managing director, shared his thoughts on it. Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the NASCAR executive said that the drivers have the right to express themselves no matter the situation!

“So every situation is different, but the raw emotion, and we really don’t want to hold all that back,” Moran said. “I mean, the drivers have the right to share their thoughts and feelings. And truthfully, if everybody gets to witness some of that, I don’t think it’s the worst thing that could happen.”

While NASCAR took cognizance of the situation, the governing body did not slap a fine. However, there are instances where NASCAR has fined drivers for their actions.

For instance, in recent times, the governing body fined Ricky Stenhouse Jr. $75,000 for punching Kyle Busch at his hauler after a first-lap wreck at the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2024. NASCAR fined Marcos Ambrose $25,000 for punching Casey Mears in the garage after an incident at the 2014 Richmond Raceway race.