Drivers react to Carson Hocevar’s Nashville penalty

CHICAGO — After intentionally causing Harrison Burton to spin under caution at Nashville Superspeedway last Sunday (June 30), Carson Hocevar was fined $50,000 and given a 25-point penalty ahead of this weekend’s race in Chicago.

When I asked Carson during the media session on Saturday (July 6) if he and Harrison had spoken in the past week to smooth things over, he answered bluntly: “No.”

Since this was not Hocevar’s first incident involving intentional right-rear spins or hooks, several NASCAR Cup Series drivers commented on Hocevar’s behavior last weekend and the resulting penalty he received.

“Yeah, don’t start anybody,” Ryan Blaney said. “You’re going to get penalized. Pay money, pay points, park them if you have to. That’s something I’ve seen too many times from this guy (Hocevar) on different shows. That’s not cool. Don’t do that. …

“I think everyone made a big deal out of it when Hocevar did that in the Cup race, and then they rightly penalized him after the race. That’s the only way to stop that stuff. You have to make them pay a lot of money, take points off them and stuff like that. If it’s bad enough, you have to make them sit out. You know, those are just things you learn as a young driver. Don’t do that. There are a lot of no-nos, and that’s one of them. And I don’t care if it’s under caution or under green. Both are bad. …

“And like I said, that’s something I’ve seen him do time and time again and hopefully he learns from it. And if he has a little hole in his pocket after the money he had to pay, hopefully he learns from that not to do that again.”

Todd Gilliland watched Burton’s spin from a bird’s eye view last weekend and echoed Blaney’s sentiments expressed in his press conference.

“Absolutely,” Gilliland said. “I think there’s another video of him, and I was leading the trucks in Vegas and he spun (intentionally) on the apron. And it’s just little things like that, it’s just lame in the moment. But then it keeps happening and you just wonder: Why? At some point it just seems selfish.

“Anyone can change and (Hocevar) obviously has a lot of talent. He was fast. So yeah, it’s just disappointing to see that kind of thing over and over again, for sure.”

Denny Hamlin was asked if he uses SMT data to determine fault or intent in incidents (which he has done in the past), but he also said the image tells the story of what happened last week between Hocevar and Burton.

“You just have to use your own eyes and your own brain to understand what you think happened, and of course there’s still that element of real data that can back that up or maybe even raise more questions about whether it was intentional or not,” Hamlin said. “But I don’t think anyone should question the Carson thing last week; I think we all saw how that turned out.”

As he climbed the NASCAR rankings in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Brad Keselowski repeatedly clashed with established Cup drivers, most notably Carl Edwards. From that perspective, Keselowski talked about the difficulties a driver like Hocevar might have making a name for himself and the balancing act of finding the right level of aggressiveness.

“I certainly understand how hard it is to break into the Cup Series and want to make an impression right away,” Keselowski said. “In my experience, you have to be careful. I haven’t been through that so it won’t be a negative for you, right? Almost trying too hard. And trying too hard is sometimes good and sometimes bad. You certainly prefer someone who tries too hard than someone who doesn’t try at all, but there’s certainly a sweet spot that I think every driver has to find for themselves to some degree.

“And there’s a strong argument for me that (Hocevar) is on the other side of that and not living at that sweet spot, and I hope for his own sake that he can find that spot. Maybe I have some understanding for that and respect for that too. I always felt like I had to flirt with that border of aggressiveness and that was good for me. And sometimes I looked back and said, ‘Yeah, I probably went a little too far, on the border or beyond.’ So I think you have to find that spot and decide where it is and live comfortably there.”

Hocevar is the youngest driver in the field at 21, and Nashville was the first time he’s had points deducted and fined for his on-track conduct. His talent was undeniable in his first Cup season, and now only time will tell if he gets the message and finds the right level of aggressiveness, or if another incident like Nashville happens to him in the future.