The Hurricane will be sitting this one out.
Spire Motorsports has suspended Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 car in the NASCAR Cup Series, for this weekend’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway following a run-in with Austin Cindric at Martinsville this past weekend, the latest in a long series of on-track incidents for Hocevar this season.
In the penultimate race of the season last weekend, Hocevar was criticized after repeatedly brake checking Cindric down the straightaways at Martinsville, ultimately resulting in the #2 car sustaining heavy damage and having to park for the day.
After the race, Hocevar denied that the contact was intentional and instead simply blaming it on the close-quarters racing at the half-mile short track. But the data showed something different, clearly indicating that the brake checks were intentional:
And his team clearly didn’t like what they saw, because Spire announced this afternoon that Hocevar has been parked for the next race.
In a statement announcing the suspension, Spire owner Jeff Dickerson said it wasn’t an easy decision, but one that they felt was necessary:
“A decision like this has a lot of variables and a cascading effect across an organization like ours. The easy thing would have been to leave this in NASCAR’s hands and let them decide what any penalty should be. To us, however, this isn’t about money or points. We believe in respect. Our integrity matters. This is the right decision for Spire Motorsports.”
While he also expressed support for his 23-year-old driver, Dickerson said that Hocevar’s conduct at Martinsville was unacceptable:
“Everyone here loves working with Carson, and we’ve enjoyed watching him thrive alongside our team. Sometimes the right decision for someone you care about hurts in the short term. The way Carson conducted himself at Martinsville doesn’t meet the standard we set for our drivers, team members or employees, and there are consequences for that. That doesn’t mean we don’t love him and support him.”
And he also expressed hope that Hocevar will come into next season with the right mindset to compete for the Cup Series championship:
“Racing at the Cup level is a privilege, and it comes with an expected level of professionalism from everyone who represents Spire Motorsports. We’ll go to Homestead united and compete as an organization. After that, we can get ready for Daytona in February with the right mindset to contend for a championship.”
Justin Haley will fill in for Hocevar and drive the #77 car this weekend.
Following the announcement of the suspension, Hocevar released a statement taking responsibility for his on-track actions and promising to come back better in 2027:
“This is an embarrassing day for me. I let the people down that gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to drive a Cup car. I also let down my team, sponsors and fans. I crossed the line with my on-track actions and gave Jeff and Spire Motorsports no option but to put someone else in the 77 car this weekend at Homestead. I’ll be rooting for the entire organization this weekend and look forward to coming back in 2027 as a better driver, competitor and teammate.”
Obviously it’s been a tumultuous season for Hocevar. He won his first Cup Series race earlier this year at Talladega, and qualified for the Chase for his first postseason appearance in his third full-time season.
But he’s also had several run-ins that have drawn the ire of his competitors, including an incident with Ryan Blaney at Bristol back in September that resulted in fists being thrown on pit road.
Hocevar is clearly a talented driver, and will no doubt compete for the championship for many years to come. But his hard-charging driving style and seeming lack of respect for his fellow competitors hasn’t earned him any friends on the track, with Denny Hamlin even commenting on the latest incident that he feels Hocevar is more focused on being entertaining than winning races.
There have been questions as to how much Spire was willing to accept from their young driver, and I guess now we know.
