Suarez and van Gisbergen were teammates at Trackhouse Racing in 2025. This year, Suarez has joined Spire Motorsports after being replaced by Connor Zilisch.
During the first half of a chaotic 200-lapper, the New Zealander made mention of his former Mexican teammate’s driving.
“It’s the third time the #7 got me for nothing,” said SVG under caution, speaking with his team over the radio.
“I guess he’s excited he’s not my teammate and he can hit me now.”
In another radio exchange, Suarez told his team: “Tell the #97 I’m coming for him.”
Van Gisbergen later asked if Suarez was “beefing” with anyone else.
Suarez was aggressive in his first outing with Spire, racing forward to finish an impressive fourth in the #7 Chevrolet Camaro.
Speaking post-race, he downplayed an incident with 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace, but said he was not happy with van Gisbergen.
“I race people the same way they race me,” Suarez began.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not racist. I love everyone. If they give me love, I give them love. If they give me hate, I give hate. That’s the way it works.
“We know where is the line,” he added.
“[Van Gisbergen] did a couple of things that I didn’t like. I pushed him a couple of times as well but he did it a couple more than what I did. It’s part of it.
“I bet there is a lot of hard feelings leaving this place with a lot of people. It’s part of racing.”
Asked if the on-track skirmishes needed to be addressed, Suarez said he would quickly move on.
“I don’t have a problem with him. It’s just the way that he races,” Suarez explained.
“I have seen him race other people like that as well and it’s fine, it’s just that he has to know if you’re going to race people that way, people are going to race you that way too.
“That’s why he got spun out up front.”
Van Gisbergen led a small section of the race after rain hit right on halfway.
His hopes of victory were dashed when Chase Briscoe tipped van Gisbergen into a spin out of second place.
“It was a good bit of fun,” said SVG.
“There were moments of brilliance and moments that weren’t. It was cool to get to the front.
“We were just trying to search for the grip. The wet weather conditions were very different than what I’ve raced in Supercars, just with the way the corners are and the way the rubber lays down. But then it started to come back up again and dry up. It was pretty wild.
“But all-in-all, happy with our run and it’s a good way to start the season for this #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team.”
On the whole, Suarez labelled the race “crazier than what I would like”.
“It was a lot of fun. The dry, the first half, and then the second half being wet. I enjoyed it a lot,” said Suarez.
“Definitely a little bit chaotic, especially up the front. Everybody was pushing each other.
“It was hard to pick a lane because everyone was using each other up and it was very difficult to know which lane was going to do what.
“Overall, a good start for our team. I’m very proud of this group.”
Get the latest NASCAR news, stats, and US racing coverage at Speedcafe US
Discussion about this post