Blaney Downplays Hocevar Brawl; NASCAR Takes No Action — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Ryan Blaney arrived at Kansas Speedway on Friday still sporting a black eye under his left eye from his fight with Carson Hocevar, saying "I wish it had healed a little quicker."
- Carson Hocevar triggered the incident when he steered his No. 77 Chevrolet into Blaney's No. 12 Ford after being passed on the outside, sending Blaney spinning into the wall with 41 laps remaining — a race Blaney had led for a race-high 202 laps before Joey Logano won.
- Blaney now trails Kyle Larson by 52 points in the Chase for the championship after back-to-back rough finishes, admitting "this is not going the way I thought it was going to go."
- Hocevar, standing 6-foot-4 to Blaney's shorter frame, answered Blaney's pit-road shove with two overhand rights — the first knocking Blaney's hat off and the second dropping one of NASCAR's most popular drivers to the ground.
- NASCAR declined to penalize either driver, with chief executive Steve O'Donnell saying on Kevin Harvick's podcast: "We're not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion."
- Hocevar has built a reputation for feuds — including spinning out Brad Keselowski at the Southern 500 — that NASCAR is openly promoting with race posters at World Wide Technology Raceway reading "Hurricane Hocevar vs. Bad Brad Keselowski."
Why it matters: Blaney's 52-point deficit to Larson puts his title hopes in jeopardy after Bristol, while NASCAR's refusal to punish the brawl makes clear the series will tolerate pit-road confrontations between its drivers. Hocevar's Bristol melee adds him to a growing list of feuds NASCAR is openly promoting — from Keselowski to Blaney — as part of its entertainment product.
Ask SkimNews
