Steve Letarte, Kyle Petty break down Ross Chastain vs. Daniel Suárez post-race scuffle at Las Vegas

The fallout from Sunday’s heated moment between Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez continues to dominate the NASCAR conversation. Now, two longtime voices of the sport believe the tension runs far deeper than one incident.

Speaking on NASCAR Inside the Race, former crew chief turned analyst Steve Letarte pointed to the immediate context of the confrontation. He noted both drivers were already frustrated after running mid-pack at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“These are two fiery competitors that are already upset because they’re 17th and 18th on the day,” Letarte stated. “There’s history there. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I mean, they were teammates at one point.”

However, that history may be the biggest factor in why things escalated so quickly. Continuing, former driver Kyle Petty took it a step further, revealing that the tension between the former Trackhouse Racing teammates dates back to internal team decisions last season, specifically when Suárez learned he would not be retained while Chastain remained a centerpiece of the organization.

“This argument started last year in a competition meeting when Suárez was told he was not going to be back anymore, and Chastain was,” Petty added. “So this is just water that went under the bridge and came back again one more time, and it’s probably going to come back again.”

That underlying resentment appeared to boil over late in Sunday’s race. The two drivers had multiple on-track moments before Chastain made contact with Suárez on the cooldown lap, prompting a pit road confrontation that nearly turned physical before team personnel stepped in.

Suárez later revealed he approached Chastain to apologize for a late-race incident, but the conversation quickly escalated. Chastain, for his part, admitted he was “seeing red” in the moment and criticized Suárez for what he perceived as a lack of accountability.

Despite the intensity, no punches were thrown, and that may not be by accident. As Ricky Stenhouse Jr. recently noted, hefty NASCAR fines for fighting have become a real deterrent, lingering in drivers’ minds during heated exchanges. Still, the consensus is clear that this isn’t over.

With lingering bad blood and now public tension, Chastain and Suárez have become one of NASCAR’s most compelling rivalries. And if Petty is right, Las Vegas may have just been the latest chapter, not the last.

— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.