IT’S BRISTOL BABY.
The NASCAR Cup Series was at Bristol Motor Speedway tonight for the third race of the Chase, and sparks flew both on and off the track at the half-mile bullring.
Ryan Blaney ran up front for much of the race, leading 202 laps after being forced to start 29th after qualifying was canceled yesterday due to weather. But his race came to an end on lap 457 after a run-in with NASCAR’s favorite villain, Carson Hocevar.
Blaney passed Hocevar for 2nd place, and as the #77 car went inside to try to get back underneath him going into the corner, Blaney appeared to throw a block to try to break Hocevar’s momentum.
But if you know anything about Carson Hocevar, you probably know what happened next: The Hurricane refused to lift, getting into the back of Blaney and sending him into the wall and bringing an end to a great run for the #12 car.
It’s just the latest in a long string of run-ins for Hocevar, who’s made more than his fair share of enemies this season. And during an interview following the wreck, Blaney hinted that he would have something to say to the 23-year-old after the race:
And less than 50 laps later, Blaney was ready to let Hocevar know what he thought of the move.
After the race, Blaney immediately ran to Hocevar’s car on pit road. The driver of the #12 car immediately grabbed Hocevar, who then started swinging on Blaney – and from there, it was on:
Following the confrontation, Hocevar said that after Blaney grabbed him he knew he had to throw the first punch:
And it seemed that some of the other drivers enjoyed seeing somebody finally stand up to Hocevar:
The 23-year-old is one of the most polarizing figures in the sport. Fans clearly love him for the excitement that he brings to everything he does, as evidenced by the fact that his merch is outselling any other driver online right now.
And who can forget his absolutely electric celebration at Talladega when he won his first race earlier this year? It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in the sport.
But on the flip side, he’s certainly earned his nickname “Hurricane” for his on-track incidents, which have rubbed many of his competitors the wrong way: In fact, through just the first half of the season he was involved in 30 incidents with 21 different drivers, a number that seems to increase every week.
A couple weeks ago at the Southern 500 at Darlington, it was Brad Keselowski who found himself on the receiving end of Hurricane Hocevar’s aggression – and vowing payback.
Towards the end of stage 1, Hocevar and Keselowski were battling through turns 3 and 4 when Hocevar ran up the track and got into the side of Keselowski, putting him into the wall.
Keselowski tried to save the #6 car, but as he came off the corner sideways, Hocevar gave him one last tap for good measure and sent him spinning to bring out the caution and bring an end to the first stage of the race.
The broadcast booth had some harsh words for Hocevar after the incident:
“Hocevar just spins him out. I mean, this is the thing that everybody gets so frustrated with Carson Hocevar about. I mean, just comes up the racetrack and hits him. Drivers are tired of it in the garage area, everyone is over it.”
(Minor correction for Jeff Burton: Everyone except for the fans).
Well Brad Keselowski is DEFINITELY over it, and had some harsh words for Hocevar after the race. When asked whether there was history between him and Hocevar, the owner of RFK Racing hinted that there’s payback coming very soon:
“There will be. His day’s coming, and it’s coming hard. Watch out, Carson.”
Hocevar, for his part, may have hinted that the contact was intentional. Instead of acknowledging that contact and chalking it up to a mistake, the driver of the #77 car kept it vague in his postrace interviews, probably to avoid drawing a penalty from NASCAR for intentionally wrecking a fellow competitor:
“Yeah, he spun. I don’t know what happened, he spun.”
When told that Brad had vowed payback for the incident, Hocevar seemed unphased, simply deadpanning:
“I’ll tighten my belts.”
It’s that kind of aggressiveness that fans love from Hocevar, even though it drives his fellow competitors crazy. He’s putting on a show, in a sport that desperately needs excitement and feuds, and there’s finally a driver willing to give it to them.
In fact, I asked Hocevar about that very thing last week, and whether he’s worried about making enemies on the track. Spoiler alert: He’s not.
“You’re not really thinking about it out there or anything. It doesn’t really affect me, per se. If anything it’s just louder noise for everybody else to kind of enjoy it I guess, before and after the race, or even during the race. But for me it doesn’t really change anything of how I’m driving or worrying or whatever.
I just don’t know how much people are helping anyways. It’s so difficult, so competitive now. You can’t help anybody. Everybody’s out there for himself anyways.”
Love him or hate him, he sure makes things fun to watch.
