Carson Hocevar reiterated Wednesday that he did not wreck Zane Smith on purpose during the Aug. 3 race at Iowa Speedway. Hocevar added he allowed Smith to race by him in this past Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International in an attempt to make amends for what happened the week prior. “If I could give […]
Carson Hocevar reiterated Wednesday that he did not wreck Zane Smith on purpose during the Aug. 3 race at Iowa Speedway. Hocevar added he allowed Smith to race by him in this past Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International in an attempt to make amends for what happened the week prior.
“If I could give that back in a spot that wasn’t going to cost me anything, hopefully that mends a little bit of their racecar getting wrecked [at Iowa] — which wasn’t intentional by any means,” Hocevar said, via Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.
Late in the race, Hocevar pulled to the side on the exit of Turn 5 and allowed Smith to go by him for 17th. Hocevar then approached Smith’s car on pit road after the race. He leaned into his car and said, “Hey, I know that doesn’t make up for it, but you can expect that in the next couple weeks, OK?”
Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith all good after Watkins Glen? Time will tell
Hocevar has made enemies out of several drivers in the garage this season, from Smith to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to Brad Keselowski among others. His run-in with Smith at Iowa resulted in Smith’s crew chief Ryan Bergenty interrupting an interview Hocevar was doing to confront the driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet.
“Hey, when are you going to learn to f*cking drive, dude?” Bergenty said. “I mean you wiped us the f*ck out.”
Smith reportedly declined comment after the race on the brief encounter with Hocevar. He did not have the best of things to say about his former Spire Motorsports teammate prior to the race.
“I personally can’t go have a conversation with him without getting a $75,000 fine,” Smith told Zach Sturniolo of NASCAR.com. “Yeah, he’s just a dumb [expletive]. That’s just how it is.”
Smith didn’t stop there. He claimed that everyone back at the race shop at Spire “realizes he’s an idiot.”
“I think that the media feeds into him trying to play this like, ‘Intimidator’ role, but then he’ll act like he’s your buddy, and then just be an idiot on social media,” Smith said. “I was teammates with him, and everyone at that race shop, everyone in this garage, realizes he’s an idiot.”
Category: General Sports
