Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell threw down on pit road at ISM Raceway during qualifying for the March 8, 2019 TicketGuardian 500. What started as a traffic jam in first round qualifying ended with Suarez slamming McDowell to the ground in one of NASCAR‘s most entertaining fights in recent memory.
Daniel Suarez Fight: The Qualifying Mess That Started It All
Everyone waited until the final minutes of the 10 minute qualifying session to hit the track, creating chaos on the mile oval. Suarez felt McDowell deliberately blocked him during his hot lap, ruining his chances to advance past round one. McDowell claims he made an honest mistake and was in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to get his own lap going.
After failing to advance, Suarez immediately hopped the pit wall and marched toward McDowell, who was still sitting in his car. McDowell got out and pushed Suarez first as the Stewart-Haas Racing driver approached. Big mistake. Suarez quickly got underneath McDowell and drove him straight into the ground despite giving up five inches in height. Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer jumped in and pushed Suarez onto the hood of McDowell’s car with a hand on his neck. Suarez responded by grabbing Blickensderfer’s throat as McDowell pulled on his leg from the ground.
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Respect Gone Wrong According to Daniel Suarez
Suarez told reporters after the incident that he operates on a simple principle. Give respect, get respect back. Don’t give respect, get your a** kicked. He admitted trying to wreck McDowell on the cooldown lap after the latter cost him a qualifying lap, which made McDowell even more angry when the confrontation started.
McDowell downplayed everything, saying they attended a hockey game together the night before and chalked it up to racing emotions. Both drivers qualified terribly, with McDowell starting 27th and Suarez 28th right beside him. NASCAR called both to the hauler Saturday morning to make sure they wouldn’t intentionally wreck each other during the race.
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