- Carson Hocevar appeared to brake-check Austin Cindric at least three times at Martinsville on Sunday, ending Cindric’s race, and called it “normal Martinsville racing,” per Motorsport.com.
- Rivals accused the 23-year-old of spinning on purpose on Lap 198, a claim he rejected with “they can come drive it.”
- NBC analysts Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett criticized his answers, repeating the rebuke the two Hall of Famers gave him after Darlington in September.
Hocevar Answers Two Martinsville Controversies With the Same Shrug
Austin Cindric’s race was over, his nose wrecked, when someone asked Carson Hocevar whether the contact was on purpose. “No, I don’t know, I got lost there for a second,” said the Spire Motorsports driver, who then turned to the adjustments on his No. 77 Chevrolet.
Asked again, he gave a longer answer. “I think we were just having fun,” Hocevar said.
William Byron won Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway for his 17th career victory, but the scrutiny landed on Hocevar, who finished 21st, two laps down. Cindric, in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, finished 36th. Two moments carried Hocevar’s name: a spin on Lap 198 that rivals said was deliberate, and a run of apparent brake checks a few laps later that left Cindric’s car with a wrecked nose.
The Spin Rivals Did Not Believe
Byron was lapping Hocevar when the No. 77 slid up the track and spun. The yellow flew in the middle of a round of green-flag pit stops, and it scrambled the order. Christopher Bell pitted as the caution came out, was caught speeding and had to restart at the rear. Denny Hamlin went a lap down and took a wave-around. Ty Gibbs, who had just passed Kyle Larson, received the free pass.
The accusations came over team radio within moments. Bell’s team said it looked like Hocevar spun the car on purpose. Austin Dillon said he probably did it on purpose. Shane van Gisbergen said the same. Rivals had a reason to go there: Hocevar has spun himself out deliberately before.
Jeff Gluck asked Hocevar about the accusations in a post-race media scrum, and the reply was blunt. “I mean, they can come drive it,” he said. “I was driving really hard to try and stay next to or in front of the 24 [Byron] … I just got into the marbles with a corded right rear, there was no saving it. I was just trying really hard, but they can come and drive it if they want.”
The motive is hard to find. Larson, the other Chevrolet driver in the mix, was not in position to take a free pass, so there was nothing in it for Chevrolet. Hocevar had gained a few spots through the pit cycle and several drivers were trapped by the yellow, yet that is a minimal return for deliberately spinning a car. Some observers theorized that he was fed up with an ill-handling car and did not care to save it. Nobody has shown that he meant to spin, and Hocevar denies it.
The Brake Checks and Cindric’s Radio
Just over 200 laps in, Cindric and Hocevar fought for position. Hocevar appeared to brake-check him on the straight no fewer than three times, and Cindric’s front bumper took heavy damage. The Penske driver went to the garage and could not finish.
Onboard and other footage shows Hocevar braking multiple times on the straight ahead of Cindric. His own spotter urged him to keep going. “Okay, just go please, just go,” the spotter said.
Little has surfaced from Cindric’s side. His clearest statement came over the radio. “NASCAR, what are we doing? Like, we’re just weaponizing cars here. I stack on entry with the guy and he has a mental breakdown.”
Hocevar saw a different race. He recalled that he “got full throttled here in the spring” at Martinsville, and said he and Cindric “have raced each other really well,” with Cindric’s cars very fast.
In a later media session, Hocevar repeated the point. “Sometimes you’re getting hit, sometimes you’re causing it,” he said. “I just felt like it was normal Martinsville racing. Everybody’s trying to move people. I think he [Cindric] was on the lead lap, I was maybe one down. Everybody’s going to be hitting behind him, and everybody’s going to be hitting behind me, and I’m going to try and move people too. It’s just tough on the restarts and whatnot.”
Burton and Jarrett Draw the Line
Burton, the newly inducted NASCAR Hall of Fame member, and Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, work as analysts on NBC’s NASCAR coverage. Neither accepted the “lost” answer.
“Well, that’s not just Martinsville,” Burton said. “… It’s your job not to lose yourself. You’re a professional race car driver. It’s just not an adequate answer.”
Jarrett agreed. “I’m not impressed with that at all,” he said. “That’s not racing whatsoever.” He tied the moment to Talladega, where a driver needs help to work up through the field. Drivers in that spot, Jarrett said, should not wonder “why everybody goes the other way whenever you pull out.”
Burton added that Hocevar’s team was struggling on Sunday and that frustrations were high. He also said the message at Talladega was very clear: “we’re not working with you.”
A Pattern From Darlington to Talladega
Burton and Jarrett have said it before. At Darlington in September, Hocevar drifted up the track near the end of the first stage and spun Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing Ford. He finished 11th. When a reporter asked about the contact, he smiled. “Yeah he spun,” Hocevar said. “I don’t know what happened. He spun.”
Burton wanted an admission. “It’s okay to make a mistake,” he said. “I don’t understand the ‘He just spun,’ thing,” and “at some point, the competitors are going to get sick of it.” Jarrett warned that Hocevar will need allies if he wants to win. “You’re going to need cooperation along the way,” he said. Keselowski made his own response clear in the days after, as Brad Keselowski promised a hard payback for the spin.
Talladega came next. Hocevar was pushing Joey Logano in the outside lane when the two tangled in the tri-oval and Hocevar spun down the frontstretch as 15 cars piled together. The race went red after Logano’s car flipped. Hocevar stopped on the backstretch with four flat tires, and a tow truck driver, by Hocevar’s account, ran him back to the garage at 45 mph. His crew got him back on the lead lap in 13th, and he finished in the top ten. Hocevar told his live stream the driver was a “massive MVP” and said he wanted to find the man, the story behind his Talladega tow truck rescue. A week later, Hocevar was answering questions at Martinsville.
A Contract, a Crew and One Race Left
Spire Motorsports has stood behind Hocevar. In February, the team announced a long-term extension that keeps him in the No. 77 “into the next decade.” The exact terms were not released, and the deal apparently keeps him there at least four seasons.
Hocevar is 23, a Michigan native. He raced full-time in the Truck Series for Niece Motorsports, where he won five times in 81 starts, and made his Cup debut for Spire in 2023 at World Wide Technology Raceway at age 20. He won Cup Rookie of the Year in 2024 and took his first Cup pole in 2025, with nine top-10 finishes, two of them seconds. He ended that year 23rd in points.
Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson has been frank about the mistakes along the way. “It has been an absolutely rewarding experience getting to know Carson and watching him grow up, and learn from the good and bad both at and away from the racetrack,” Dickerson said when the extension was announced. “I love him like a son.”
After Darlington, Burton said Spire did not seem to mind the noise: “They don’t seem to care.” Hocevar has leaned into the role of NASCAR’s newest villain. After that race he said “I do everything for TV and entertainment purposes,” adding, “I just do it for the clicks.”
The next test is close. The season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway is set for Sunday, November 8, at 3 p.m. Eastern on NBC, the 36th and final race of the season. Larson leads Bell by 67 points and Hamlin by 70 as of Martinsville, and the title chase will own the headlines. Hocevar has a longer list of people to answer to: Cindric, Keselowski and the drivers who heard the same explanation at Darlington. Burton has set the bar for the next answer. A professional, in his words, does not lose himself, and Hocevar will meet the same drivers again at Homestead.
