Daniel Suarez Bluntly Warns Ross Chastain as “Different Agendas” Come to Light

Published 09/04/2023, 5:36 AM EDT

Justin Marks’s Trackhouse Racing team has established a name for itself in its brief span of three years. But the 2023 Cup season was a roller coaster of diverging performances and controversies. Ross Chastain‘s physical altercation at Kansas put them in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Similarly, Daniel Suarez‘s hefty fine at the Circuit of The Americas also garnered negative attention. They somehow got the #1 driver into the playoffs and #99 only narrowly missed the cutoffs.

Suarez pointed out some reasons for the team’s ongoing difficulties. He also established the racing parameters between him and Chastain in the upcoming races.

Daniel Suarez makes a bold statement against Ross Chastain regarding the Championship

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Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain started the season with the common goal of qualifying for playoffs. But now, the circumstances have changed. Ahead of Darlington, the teammates seem to operate with diverging interests at stake. The #1 Chevy driver Chastain would aim for the Championship race at Phoenix at the end of the year. Whereas, Suarez’s #99 Chevy could just hope to win individual races since he couldn’t make the playoffs.

At the pre-race interview with Frontstretch, Suarez was asked about supporting Chastain through these coming rounds. Suarez made it clear although Chastain had his full backing during the week, each racer was on their own during the race.

“I mean really the main support is Monday to Friday just trying to work together and trying to understand and trying to build the best race car that we possibly can heading into the weekend. While we’re already in the race, you know he’s trying already to win the Championship and I’m trying to win races so it’s always a difficult situation because everyone has different agendas.”

He further clarified that he wouldn’t hold Chastain back. At the same time, Suarez announced that if he performed on par with Chastain, he would fight hard to get the best results for himself.

“If he’s coming behind me and he’s faster, I would let him go. But if we’re similar speed, we’re gonna race. That’s going to be the same way with everyone. That’s the thing at this point of the season; everyone has different agendas and everyone is fighting for different things.”

“Still Get Goosebumps”: Daniel Suarez Reveals What Makes Winning at Indianapolis Special

As Suarez tries to push himself for his first race win since last year, he highlighted the areas of improvement for his team.

Daniel Suarez knows what the Trackhouse Racing team needs to change for a winning streak

The regular Cup season was mixed at best for Trackhouse driver Daniel Suarez. He had three Top 5 finishes distributed through the year, but also 4 DNFs. He was runner-up at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and even got a pole position at Indianapolis. But he failed to cover the difference in points with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and missed the last playoff spot. His teammate Chastain qualified with a spectacular victory at Nashville Superspeedway but did not achieve any Top 5 finishes post that win, till this past weekend.

Now, Daniel Suarez is keenly aware of where their shortfalls lie. He discussed them further in the media interview.

“We have things to clean up you know. We have been extremely inconsistent this year. We have had speed but not consistent. We’ve been very unpredictable and we cannot win a Championship like that…we just have to be better…and we have things to get better and we’re working very hard on that. If we can fix that…we can fight for wins.”

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When asked about a specific thing his team needs to work on, he admitted that the issue rested with the team’s functioning and not the people working behind the scenes.

“It’s a little bit of the process to do things. It’s not the quality of the people, it’s the process to do things. We have to make adjustments on that…how to go from point A to point B….trying to be smarter and trying to understand that process will make us more predictable and consistent for racing.”

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In this exciting competition between racing for victory versus racing to the next round of playoffs, the drivers of the Trackhouse team are ready to give their best in the next two races of the first round.

WATCH THIS STORY: Daniel Suarez Remains Silent Despite Trackhouse Owner Justin Marks Reneging on His SVG Promise

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Written by:

Parika Singh is a NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. Her combined love for writing and motorsports drew her to the world of sports journalism, where she fell in love with the thrill, unpredictability, and charisma of covering racers and race tracks. She especially looks out for the #5 Chevrolet of Kyle 'Wheelman' Larson, because of whom, she holds a soft spot for the 2021 season where he emerged as champion.

Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh

Daniel Suarez Bluntly Warns Ross Chastain as “Different Agendas” Come to Light

Daniel Suarez makes a bold statement against Ross Chastain regarding the Championship

Daniel Suarez knows what the Trackhouse Racing team needs to change for a winning streak

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