There’s an art to it, and no one did it like The Intimidator.
This past weekend at Bristol, the headline that dominated the NASCAR world is the fight that Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar got in following the conclusion of the race. Blaney did what a lot of other NASCAR drivers likely wish they had done after a late-race run-in between the driver of the No. 77 car and the driver of the No. 12 car. The wreck sent Blaney out of the competition.
In case you missed what happened, it had been a great race for Blaney, who ran up front for much of the night. He actually led for 202 laps after being forced to start 29th after qualifying was canceled the day before due to weather. But his race and all of the momentum he had built came to an end when, on the 457th lap, NASCAR’s favorite villain – Carson Hocevar – spun him out.
There’s been some debate as to who is really to blame for the wreck… with some arguing that Blaney through a late block on a driver known for driving right through you. Other say Hocevar should’ve pulled up and not spun him out. With Hocevar’s reputation and Blaney being a fan favorite driver, most think that Hocevar was at fault.
It was no surprise that, once the race concluded, Blaney had some things he wanted to say to Hocevar… as do many other drivers right about now.
Blaney wasted no time making his way over to Hocevar’s car on pit road, and once he got there, the driver of the No. 12 car rushed the driver of the No. 77 car, who then decided to counter by… punching Blaney in the face multiple times.
It was an immediate aggression and elevation that pretty much sums Hocevar’s driving style:
FIGHT NIGHT IN BRISTOL!! 🥊⚔️ pic.twitter.com/nooT5WA70U
— NASCAR on USA (@NASCARonUSA) September 20, 2026
It was a wild scene, and former driver Kenny Wallace shared some advice for Carson Hocevar that he learned from competing against the late, great Dale Earnhardt, .
Of course, Sr. was quite polarizing in his time too, especially among fans, but overall, the other drivers seemed to love him, and Wallace explained in a video on Instagram that there’s a very specific reason as to why.
He says that Sr. “trained” all of them, and because he was so smart, he would make friends with the drivers after he “got done wrecking.” Wallace explained that Hocevar could find a simple solution to all of the drivers disliking him by following that strategy:
“Back in my day, Dale Earnhardt Sr. trained us. Sr. was smart. He would wreck us, and then after he got done wrecking, he would make friends with us. And this is where I think Carson Hocevar is missing it just a little bit.
I know how Carson can quit making all the drivers mad at him. By the way, did you see when the fight was over, Carson went out behind his car. You know, Carson went behind his car, and he went to the fans. He’s like, come on, come on. Ryan Preece and Josh Berry looked at Carson, and they don’t like him.
Ryan Preece and Josh Berry do not like Carson Hocevar, and they went like, ‘Hey, Carson, run that mouth.’”
Wallace continued, saying that Sr. would come up to whoever he wrecked the following week, put his arm around them and tell them he was just rattling their cage, and so he knew how to work everybody to keep the peace off the track, even though he was incredibly aggressive and made a lot of enemies on the track.
Like I said, it’s an art…
“They don’t like him, so why did everybody like Dale Sr. when Dale Sr. would get done wrecking you? Well, this is my message to Carson. When Dale Sr. would wreck you, he’d see you the next week, and he’d come up there, and he’d put his arm around you. ‘Man, I didn’t mean to get into you. I just meant to rattle your cage.’
Dale Sr. trained us? Oh, yeah. You know, we all know that by now; we all heard the spotter, we all heard that Ryan Blaney’s spotter was saying, ‘Hey, underneath, low, low.’ it’s all over the internet, so we know that Ryan Blaney was blocking Carson Hocevar. But you know why we didn’t block Earnhardt? Because we knew he’d spin us out.”
Of course, it got to the point where people didn’t even try to block Sr. and they just “got the f***” out of his way, as Wallace put it, and I think that’s pretty much a perfect explanation. Wallace says the current Cup Series drivers need to do the same:
“Do you know why Earnhardt didn’t have to spin anybody out anymore? Because all of us drivers, look here, you know, all of us, it could have been Mark Martin, it could have been Rusty Wallace, or it could have been Jeff Gordon.
When you look in the mirror and you saw Earnhardt coming, well, guess what we did when Earnhardt got on our a**? We got the f*** out of his way, and I don’t think these boys have figured that out yet. I don’t think they’ve figured out that when Carson’s coming, get out of the way, because he’s going to spin you out. It’s just that damn simple.”
Something tells me these drivers aren’t going to be getting out of Hocevar’s way on the track anytime soon, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another post-race altercation either as the postseason continues to heat up:
