Daniel Suarez and Noah Gragson offered their perspectives of Sunday’s late-race incident at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
With 15 laps remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, Gragson got into the left rear of Suarez, sending the latter spinning and bringing out what would be the final caution of the race.
Despite the incident, Suarez rallied to finish eighth. Gragson finished ninth, tying his best finish of the 2026 season.
Suarez on Contact With Gragson: ‘He Just Got a Little Impatient’
Following the race, Gragson apologized to Suarez and the two shared a handshake and an embrace. While Suarez was in positive spirits, the driver of the No. 7 said the incident could have been worse.
Suarez felt he did a quality job of fending off Gragson’s challenge but believes the driver of the No. 4 got impatient.
“He was faster. I was doing a good job holding him off and he just got a little impatient and he spun me out. The only reason I didn’t get mad was because we finished ahead of him and we finished the top 10, but that could have gotten ugly very, very quickly,” Suarez said.
Suarez did not fault Gragson completely for the incident but believes the Front Row Motorsports driver could have avoided the incident.
“I don’t blame him 100 percent but he could’ve been a little smarter,” Suarez said.
Had Suarez crashed out of the race, there would not be much to talk about on his end.
Fortunately, it ended up being a harmless incident.
“No big deal. If we crashed, I would probably give him a couple of knuckles, but we finished top 10,” Suarez said.
Gragson Gives His Side: ‘Mistake on my Part’
Gragson took the blame for the contact between him and Suarez. While Gragson never intended to bring out a caution, it ultimately benefited him in the end.
“I hit the seam and got loose and was chasing. I didn’t mean to get into Daniel but got into his left rear and spun. Kinda fortunately, unfortunately — I don’t like bringing out cautions but we advanced a couple of spots with it, so I’ll take it,” Gragson said.
Gragson noted he apologized to Suarez after spinning him out. The 28-year-old believes he has gained the respect of his competitors, especially throughout this season, and never wants to ruin someone’s race.
“I got out of the car and went over to him and was telling him, ‘Hey, that’s on me.’ You never want to spin out a competitor. I feel like I race all these guys with a lot of respect. I feel like I point a lot of guys by throughout the year. I race hard but, for the most part, I try to race as clean as I can. That was just a mistake on my part,” Gragson said.
Suarez won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 last May, his third career win, and made the Chase. The Spire Motorsports driver finished 13th in the points standings.
Gragson, meanwhile, finished 31st in the final standings in his second season with FRM.
Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson Give Different Sides of Late-Race Homestead Incident