Contact on Lap 106 of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 left Ricky Stenhouse Jr. out of the race and earned Carson Hocevar another competitor frustrated with his driving etiquette.
Entering Turn 3 shortly after Stage 2 began at Nashville Superspeedway, Hocevar bumped Stenhouse, sending the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports sliding sideways and right-rear-first into the outside SAFER barrier. Although the team attempted to repair the vehicle, the damage proved too severe, and Stenhouse was dealt his first DNF of 2025, dropping to a last-place result in 39th.
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“Not real thrilled with that exit, especially (in) Stage 2 there,” Stenhouse told reporters after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “He (Hocevar) had tried to dive-bomb me two laps before that from about 10 or 12 car-lengths back, and then he finally was close enough that time to just wipe us out.”
Hocevar, the sophomore driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, continued to tie a career-best result, taking the checkered flag second at the Tennessee track. The Michigan native has made prior enemies on track for his aggressive style of racing, but explained post-race he thought he was in position to make the pass on Stenhouse.
“I kind of got a run and felt like I was kind of there,” Hocevar said. “I felt like I was there enough to get a call (from Stenhouse’s spotter) inside and have him just run the middle. Honestly, he probably could have cleared me, so that’s just what I expected him to do. And he didn’t. And by the time I checked up, I almost spun, too.”
Stenhouse disagreed with that assessment, believing Hocevar hadn’t yet earned the real estate to get to Stenhouse’s left-rear corner entering the turn.
“I think it’s definitely overaggressive. I think that’s Carson,” Stenhouse said. “Maybe I should have just hung a right, let him go. I’m not sure. If he would have got to my inside, I would have let him go. But just to keep dive-bombing me, you can’t just give up spots just to give up spots. So I felt like it was definitely overaggressive.”
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Stenhouse has made previous frustrations known, most recently in the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race when, after an early bump from Kyle Busch ousted him, Stenhouse got into a physical confrontation with Busch post-race and received a $75,000 fine for his actions. Stenhouse confirmed he would talk with Hocevar after their Nashville collision but didn’t want to wait for him after the race: “No, that costs too much money.”
Hocevar welcomes any pending conversation.
“If he wants to talk, I’ll gladly talk,” Hocevar said. “But I feel like it’s just a product of this, unfortunately. Everybody just kinda tries to get there. There were a bunch of people who got shipped that either didn’t wreck or didn’t get wrecked.”
Hocevar conceded he could have cut Stenhouse a break on corner entry and instead attempted the pass differently later.
“But at the same time,” he said, “maybe I could have gotten cut a break too with how big of a run I had. So I think it goes both ways or it could go both ways, and maybe that’s what we talk about.”
Exiting Nashville, Hocevar now sits four points beneath the provisional elimination line and gained four spots to the line — while also gaining five spots in the regular-season standings. Stenhouse, meanwhile, is now on the outside of the 16-driver bracket by six points, losing 16 points to the elimination line. Some of Hocevar’s aggression can be tied to the desperation of making the playoffs.
“I just know we’re running out of opportunities for this year (in) the regular season, right?” Hocevar said. “You’re running out of opportunities and it’s not every week you’re gonna be up front. Statistically, we don’t have that luxury. Every opportunity, you don’t know how long in between you’re gonna be when you have a shot at running up front.”