KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Six days removed from the post-race antics that put two of NASCAR’s top stars in the limelight, Ryan Blaney — sporting a black eye under his hat brim — and Carson Hocevar met the media in their first at-track setting since their Bristol Motor Speedway beef last weekend.
Their sessions — staggered nearly an hour apart — were marked by measured, conciliatory remarks, a sharp contrast to the boisterous fracas that pitted the two toe-to-toe with fists flying. Both also indicated they were willing to move past their differences.
“I mean, I’ve watched the sport all my life. Technically this is the stuff that brings people closer together, and you laugh about it,” Hocevar said Friday. “So yeah, I’ve never had a problem really with him on the race track, and we’ve been running good. I think he’s as stand-up of a guy as it could be that he could look at it and know that that was just racing and whatnot, heat of the moment and everything.”
Their comments arrived on a rainy Friday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and the fourth of 10 rounds in The Chase presented by Mobil 1. Blaney enters Sunday’s 400-miler sixth in the Cup Series standings, two positions ahead of Hocevar in their pursuit of the circuit’s championship.
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The conflict between the two championship-eligible drivers escalated at Bristol Saturday night, when an on-track skirmish sidelined Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford with 43 laps left in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. That led to a physical confrontation on pit road after the checkered flag, with Blaney approaching where Hocevar had parked his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. The two traded punches amid a fierce verbal volley before they were separated.
The night ended with Blaney’s second consecutive DNF, a two-spot drop in the Cup Series standings and a break from his usually reserved nature. While acknowledging his charged reaction was out of character, Blaney noted that the culmination of multiple factors in what’s been a frustrating postseason spurred his outburst.
“I mean, it was definitely unlike me,” Blaney said. “… It’s kind of the opposite of how I normally am. You know, I get fired up quickly, but I calm down really quickly, and the other night, it just kind of slowly built over the half-hour or so. I look back at what caused me to be so upset to where I would do something like that, so I think it’s just kind of a combination of like the last month.”
Blaney explained in a Monday appearance on the “Actions Detrimental” podcast with Denny Hamlin that he “didn’t really have a huge plan” for how his meeting with Hocevar would go, only that he’d intended to grab him and raise his voice. He added that Hocevar’s decision to defend himself with fisticuffs seemed like a natural reaction, one that he “rightfully” took.
No penalties were issued to either party, a move by NASCAR officials that Blaney agreed with.
“I think they made the correct choice to not do anything,” Blaney said. “I think it would be one thing I would fully understand of getting slapped with a penalty if I went over and initiated a punch or something like that. But in that situation, I kind of initiated confrontation, and Carson defended himself, and like, I’m happy they didn’t do anything. They just kind of let it simmer, and again I think it’s the right call in that situation.”
Blaney had a fresh shiner under his left eye, the result of two initial shots from Hocevar during their post-race face-off.
“It’s fine,” Blaney said with a laugh. “I know. I wish it healed a little bit quicker than this, but it did not.”
Both drivers noted how neither had an extensive history of run-ins with the other. Hocevar recalled several instances when his was the lone Chevrolet and Blaney’s the lone Ford challenging Toyota’s dominance this season — a “good working relationship-ish,” he said. He also praised Blaney for discussing the incident so soon on Hamlin’s podcast, a move that surprised him.
“We’ve been cool and stuff, and I think Ryan’s one of the coolest guys in the garage,” Hocevar said. “I mean, he’s got a cool mustache and smokes and drinks whiskeys and all that, right? I think he looks the part really well. So I thought he made me more of a fan, honestly, when he went on (Hamlin’s podcast). I was like, ‘Oh, respect for that, for sure.’ You know, he could have held some ice on his eye and whatnot, but he went right out there and did it, and I have the utmost respect for that.
“And you know, I didn’t want to hit him. Looking back, I 100 percent see where he had wanted to maybe just throw a shove in there and then yell, but I think we both saw each other, but in the moment, you’re not gonna see that. You’re gonna predict the worst, per se.”
WATCH: Hocevar reflects on Blaney skirmish
Every driver in the field has a personal code of conduct, and Hocevar acknowledged that his tends toward aggressiveness. He noted how he’s had other drivers wave him by when he’s been faster and that he’s tried to return the favor, all while admitting “I think I bear a lot of the responsibility for probably 95 of those incidents,” likening his tactics to a football blitz that tries to rattle an opposing quarterback. This time of year, those pressures seem to rise.
“I just think a lot of it’s racing, a lot of it’s circumstantial, and I think The Chase probably raises that intensity for everybody,” Hocevar said, “and sometimes the defense raises their bar, and then just things get elevated, and you’re playing a game of chicken with race cars.”
Blaney had his own take on driver ethos, saying that “everyone’s different” and noting that the severity of his crash had elevated his anger. Moving forward, the 2023 Cup champ said he didn’t feel he’d race Hocevar any harder than other peers on the track.
“He and I really haven’t had a problem in a year or year and a half or nothing like that, and I feel like we’ve raced each other pretty good,” Blaney said. “So yeah, I don’t think there’ll be really anything different than racing hard in tough moments per usual, but that’s with anybody at certain moments of the race. So I don’t really see a big change.”
Both still have ground to make up in Sunday’s race, the first of three consecutive events on 1.5-mile ovals. Hocevar now ranks eighth after starting The Chase as the 12th seed, but his margin behind the standings leader is 85 points – a figure that’s stayed relatively steady after the first three postseason races.
The lively movement in The Chase standings has been captivating to watch, but Hocevar isn’t among the viewers.
“For us, ultimately just focusing on the race finishes, doing all that, and just kind of letting the points see,” said Hocevar, who was steadied by a third-place finish at Bristol. “If anything, we’ll look at where we’re at, but I want to be blind of who I’m racing with just because I want to race the whole field and everything. But I think it’s been solid for us.”
Blaney’s 33rd-place result at Bristol marked his second straight early exit, right on the heels of a brake failure and crash the previous week in St. Louis. He’s dropped four spots since entering The Chase as the No. 2 seed, and his deficit stands at 52 points back, three races in.
“Honestly, I thought I’d be further – two DNFs,” Blaney said. “You know, it’s not good. It’s not unobtainable, you know, it’s just going to be harder to do, but nothing worth doing is ever going to be easy. So we’re up for the challenge. We still got seven more weeks of this stuff, and my guys understand that, hey, we can still get there. Still a lot of races left. Just got to really put a lot of work in, and like I said, it just made the job harder, but I feel like that sometimes motivates you even more and so hopefully we can put our head down and get some good finishes here.”
