Here’s the thing about Carson Hocevar: he simply does not care to patch things up with Zane Smith. Speaking on the eve of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the 23-year-old driver made it clear that any attempts to smooth over their escalating rivalry feel entirely one-sided. That simmering tension spilled over at Phoenix last weekend, where a late-race battle on the fringes of the top 10 involving Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford boiled entirely out of control.
Contact from Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Chevy initially shoved Hocevar into Smith. Although Hocevar's team tried to relay what happened, Smith was out for vengeance after finishing 15th at the checkered flag. The aftermath was wild: Smith rammed the back of Hocevar’s No. 77 with enough force to visibly bow the hood of his No. 38 Ford. The heavy post-race bump caught Hocevar completely off guard. “For me, it was just unexpected,” Hocevar said. “I was looking around, and I think I was like looking down, and like I hit, and I mean, my mindset was like, ‘Oh [expletive], who did I just run into?’ because I thought somebody stopped in front of me, and then I looked around in front of me, and there was nobody in front of me.”
My life hasn’t been the same, but it’s just more fun because a lot of it is very visual memories,
N<bos>9000-level friction between the two isn't even new, as competition officials had already hauled them in to calm things down after a run-in earlier this summer at Chicagoland. This time, NASCAR brought down the hammer on Tuesday, slapping Smith with a $50,000 fine for his Phoenix actions. Front Row Motorsports representatives declined interview requests for Smith this weekend, skipped appealing the penalty, and offered no official statement other than posting “lol 77 is gonna 77” on social media during Sunday's race. Meanwhile, Hocevar’s stance on the whole ordeal is cold and simple: “No, it seems pretty one-sided to me a little bit. So I don’t really care. I mean, yeah, I don’t care.”
Yet, remarkably, bad blood doesn't seem to follow Hocevar everywhere. Just five weeks after exchanging fisticuffs with Ryan Blaney post-race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the pair were all smiles and sharing friendly banter during pre-race ceremonies at Phoenix. Both drivers confirmed their Bristol conflict was merely a loud blip, with Hocevar even trying to use his automotive connections to help Blaney buy a Ferrari. Blaney noted that their on-track encounters have actually improved since the squabble, proving that some rivalries can genuinely reset.
Now, Hocevar returns to the venue of his emotional first NASCAR Cup Series victory last April—a win that helped launch him into The Chase presented by Mobil 1 field. The memories of that breakthrough performance are rushing back as he arrives at Talladega Superspeedway alongside a massive cheering section of friends and VIP guests. “My life hasn’t been the same, but it’s just more fun because a lot of it is very visual memories,” Hocevar said. Whether the chaos with Smith follows him into Sunday's race remains to be seen, but the machine is fast and the crowd is ready.
