Zane Smith on Carson Hocevar after Iowa run-in: ‘He’s an idiot’

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Zane Smith is angry at how the last month has gone for his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team. In each of the last four weeks, Smith has been collected in crashes not of his own doing. His tipping point came last week at Iowa Speedway, when Carson Hocevar lost control of his car to Smith's left as they entered Turn 1, washing up the banking and directly into Smith's left rear. Smith spun and backed hard into the SAFER barrier, later seemingly expressing his frustration by taking an apparent swipe of his own at Hocevar's car. After the Iowa race, Smith's crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, confronted Hocevar to express his displeasure after the contact. One week later, in the Watkins Glen International garage Saturday morning, Smith left no room for error: He is not a Carson Hocevar fan. "I personally can't go have a conversation with him without getting a $75,000 fine," Smith told NASCAR.com. "Yeah, he's just a dumb [expletive]. That's just how it is." MORE: Watkins Glen schedule | Cup standings For reference, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fined $75,000 after throwing a punch at Kyle Busch following the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race. Hocevar confirmed Saturday he did not attempt to reach out to Smith, who was his teammate at Spire Motorsports in 2024. "Why would I give a you-know-what to reach out?" Hocevar said. "He took a swing, and if he wrecks me, then that's cool, but I don't know. He already took a swing. And, I mean, what's the point? His tire guy or whoever wanted to get all in our face, which I thought was hilarious. So yeah, I mean, I wrecked him, which is cool -- or which is what it is, right? He had the opportunity to take it back in his own hands, and he missed." Hocevar's reputation precedes him. From Smith to Stenhouse Jr. to Ryan Preece and others, Hocevar has made numerous enemies throughout the NASCAR Cup Series this season alone. The 22-year-old sophomore driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet has shown no signs of changing, leaning into his personality. His personal vehicle is a Dale Earnhardt-inspired Chevrolet pickup truck. His social media posts poke fun at adversity thrown his way, most recently during a rash of cautions late in Friday's Craftsman Truck Series race when he posted on X. Smith has run out of patience for Hocevar's antics, if he had any to begin with. "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." Through the anger, Smith and his crew are trying to find positives. Spins triggered late at Sonoma, Dover and Indianapolis in the three weeks before Iowa cost the team an estimated 51 points, Bergenty said. RELATED: Bell details apology to No. 38 team after Indy Those incidents have been so costly because the No. 38 Ford has been running toward or inside the top 10 at the time of the crashes. "We're coming off a month of not good finishes at the disposal of other things," Bergenty told NASCAR.com. "But I can argue that I felt we should have been running top 12 in the last 20% of all those races. So it's been a really hard month emotionally, but he's kept his head in a good place. ... "This sport will chew you up real quick. I feel like I've been through a lot of the chewing-up phases in my career. So I've just tried to, this week, spend time with the guys and explain to them how you've got to stay true to the process and keep doing what we're doing because I do feel like if you just get back to the average position and finishes of the last month, we're 60 to 70 points the other direction. It's a kit. So the confidence of everybody's still up, and I feel all right about it too." Watkins Glen was the site of a fifth-place finish for Smith last season. He's hoping to replicate that with a different team in 2025. "I had a great opportunity to win this race last year, which is awesome," Smith said. "Finished inside the top five last year here. Probably one of my favorite race tracks, and just how this road course flows, I feel like. So yeah, I feel good about this year, and we've gotten our road course (program) dramatically better. Hopefully that applies today."