HAMPTON, GA.: Respect in the garage seems to have gone to the wayside and it is apparent no matter who you talk to, and Daniel Suárez is no different.
“I race everyone the way that they race me,” Suárez said Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “Some drivers they show respect more than others and some drivers are smarter than others. I am the kind of guy that I’m going to race the same way that I get raced. I can tell you that I try to race everyone similar. “
The Trackhouse Racing driver doesn’t seem to remember much of his first year in the Cup Series but he does remember that things were definitely different.
“I don’t remember much of my first year in Cup, but I remember drivers used to give you the finger, not the middle finger but the finger of, hey you go ahead, you are better than me right now, you go ahead.
“You don’t see that anymore,” explained Suárez. “Just because stage racing, track position is so important and it’s so difficult to pass. I feel like it’s a combination of all these things and I think that has made people not to respect each other. “
But everyone makes decisions. Everyone, and they aren’t always the best decisions.
Multiple penalties came down in the elite NASCAR Cup Series this week with one of them that ultimately affected his teammate Ross Chastain.
A late race incident at Phoenix that involved Chastain and Denny Hamlin was found to have been intentional and NASCAR said altered the outcome of the race and came with harsh penalties for Hamlin post-race.
“I think that what happened on the track, in my opinion, Denny Hamlin said that he let go of the wheel and stuff like that,” he added. “I don’t think he did. I think he definitely made contact but if I only see the race, I think it’s more like a racing contact. “
Suarez went on to explain the intent of the move that relegated his teammate Chastain to a 24th place finish.
“I don’t think it was anything like super intentional in my opinion but then I feel like where what he did wrong was to just say what he said and that’s what got him in trouble no what he did on the track in my opinion .
“We make decisions, and he made a decision to look cool in the media and that’s what he gets.”
Suarez does think that the sanctioning body is doing its job in monitoring all situations and that they are trying to be as transparent as possible.
It’s very hard for me to say,” he explained. “I only drive the race cars and I drive whatever they give me and it’s tough for me to say if it’s fair or not.
“NASCAR is doing their job. I want to think that they are being consistent as possible. If they did something wrong or right that’s not for me to tell. Something that I give credit to NASCAR is trying to be consistent. “
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