Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez were on pace for a strong finish at Darlington Raceway on Sunday — up until they crashed into each other, that is.
Both drivers were inside the top 10 with just 50 laps to go when Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet attempted to overtake Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Bowman aggressively blocked Suarez, who ended up making contact with Bowman’s right rear. The contact led to a crash. Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Ford Mustang was also caught up in the collision.
Contact between @Daniel_SuarezG and @Alex_Bowman leads to this incident! pic.twitter.com/3KmCYtXtC2
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 4, 2023
After the incident, Bowman was asked to comment on the moves he made that led to the crash, which Suarez had called “dumb” in his own interview.
“Obviously, it didn’t work. [Suarez] chose not to lift and to crash us. Every time I race the 99, he does something dumb. … Anytime I’m around him, he blocks me very aggressively,” said Bowman.
The crash adds to an already checkered history between Bowman and Suarez.
Bowman did admit that he “should not have done it” in hindsight. He also took the blame in a post on X shortly after the race concluded, stating that he had made a “bad block.”
“Bad block. My fault. Got blocked all night and decided enough was enough. Unfortunately I didn’t realize the 99 got outside and that got us crashed. We were fast. See y’all in Kansas,” said Bowman.
Bad block. My fault. Got blocked all night and decided enough was enough. Unfortunately I didn’t realize the 99 got outside and that got us crashed. We were fast. See y’all in Kansas 👊🏼
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) September 4, 2023
Bowman’s Cup Series teammate Kyle Larson ended up winning the Cookout Southern 500 at Darlington. Bowman and Suarez finished 33rd and 34th, respectively.
