At Nashville early on, Carson Hocevar got into it with Ricky Stenhouse, causing Stenhouse to fall out of the playoffs while Hocevar went on to finish a career-best 2nd place. So as you might’ve guessed, Stenhouse wasn’t happy with Hocevar, and heading into Michigan, there’s been tons of chatter about it. Let’s get into it!
Hocevar Texted Stenhouse As Trailers Rolled Into Michigan
With that revelation coming after Stenhouse was on the “Motor Stardom Show,” he had yet to receive a call from Hocevar. Saying if he didn’t get a call from Hocevar, he would confront him in Michigan. So confrontation is avoided, but it doesn’t mean everything’s sorted between the two Chevy drivers.
“We texted a little bit back and forth, and I think we’ll still talk,” Hocevar told Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds. “You see each other 38 weekends a year. Eventually, you’re going to run into each other. Not literally, hopefully, but run into each other in person. I think it’s better if you’re going to have that talk or conversation to do it before you get to the track and everyone gets into race mode. Yeah, he wanted to have that conversation, so I just texted him to reach out or whatever. We’ll probably have that talk and see where it goes.”
Both Have Quite the Reputation As Aggressive Drivers
Both had recent incidents like Stenhouse with Kyle Busch at the 2024 All-Star race and Blaney and Hocevar at Atlanta. With both of them also being in struggling equipment, it was inevitable the two would run into each other and have problems. Stenhouse has always been outspoken as well, so it’s no surprise he spoke out against Hocevar’s move on Sunday.
While Denny Hamlin said Stenhouse would pay back Hocevar, saying, “You can take this to the book. Ricky Stenhouse will absolutely wreck Carson Hocevar sometime in the near future. That’s just a fact. I would put this week’s salary on it; I’m not kidding you. He isn’t going to punch him in the face, but he’ll absolutely wreck him. Because Ricky’s that kind of guy… He’s going to feed into what people say… He’ll make sure you know. If you’re Carson, just know that it’s coming.” Stenhouse has made no indication of payback, but it certainly wouldn’t be out of character for Stenhouse to rough him up next week if given the chance.
This Was Hocevar’s Explanation For the Wreck At Nashville
“I know my intentions and what I thought was going to happen. Ultimately, you don’t want to wreck anybody’s race car. You don’t want to wreck anybody,” Carson Hocevar said. “[Spire co-owner] Jeff Dickerson tells me all the time that if you’re explaining, you’re losing. With us talking about this, instead of talking about how we can get ourselves one spot better, we’re talking about this. I didn’t want to wreck him. I went in, and I thought I could get there and get a little more space.
“For his arc, I thought he was going to go run the middle with the 54 [Ty Gibbs] running the bottom and thought I could get in a little deeper and have his spotter call inside, and he just came all the way down, and I landed into his left rear. Backed him into the fence. I don’t want to do that, and I feel bad for it, obviously, for wrecking somebody’s race car I think the biggest thing is the story we want is the fact we ran second with the 77 car...”
Do you want to see what happens next? Watch NASCAR on Prime next Sunday. Thanks a bunch for reading!
