Ryan Blaney doesn’t expect there to be anything different with how he races Carson Hocevar following their post-race altercation last Saturday at Bristol.
At the conclusion of the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race, Blaney and Hocevar traded blows on pit road. The post-race altercation stemmed after on-track contact between the two with 43 laps to go, which sent Blaney spinning and crashing into the wall.
Blaney scored a DNF in the 33rd position, while Hocevar proceeded to finish third.
Blaney on racing Hocevar in the future: ‘I don’t see a change’
Blaney largely got his side of the Bristol saga out of the way when he appeared on Denny Hamlin’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast on Monday. The driver of the No. 12 believes the on-track incident was a 50/50 situation and that both of them could have done things better.
Moving forward, Blaney does not expect anything to be different when he races around the driver of the No. 77. In fact, the 2023 Cup champion said the two have not had major issues on-track in a while.
Like he races everyone, Blaney expects to race Hocevar hard at times but nothing out of the ordinary.
“As far as racing around [Hocevar]. … Like I said on Denny’s thing, he and I really haven’t had a problem in a year, year-and-a-half or nothing like that. I feel like we’ve raced each other pretty good. I don’t think there will be really anything different than racing hard in tough moments, per usual, but that’s with anybody in certain moments in the race, so I don’t really see a big change,” he said.
During Hocevar’s media availability, the Spire Motorsports, too, said he and Blaney have not had many issues on-track. Earlier this season at EchoPark Speedway, otherwise known as Atlanta, Hocevar felt he and Blaney made for solid drafting partners.
“I’ve been cool with him and stuff. I thought we had been racing pretty good. There have been a lot of times where he’s coming out on top at Atlanta but it’s me and him — he’s the only Ford up there, I’m the only Chevy up there and then it’s us versus the Toyotas, so we kinda had to help each other at times,” Hocevar said.
Blaney aims to rebound at Kansas Speedway
Blaney’s early exit from Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race was a continuation of a trying Chase for the former champion. With seven races remaining, Blaney ranks sixth in the points standings, 52 back from leader Kyle Larson.
A brake failure in the second race of the Chase at World Wide Technology Raceway ended Blaney’s race early. Blaney had a strong fourth-place run at Darlington to open the Chase. However, two straight DNFs has the 32-year-old mired back in the standings.
Blaney started the Chase as the second seed, 25 points behind leader Denny Hamlin. He totaled three wins during the regular season, which came at Phoenix, EchoPark Speedway and New Hampshire.
Blaney is seeking his second Cup championship and the fourth for Team Penske in the last five seasons.
Ryan Blaney Speaks About Racing Carson Hocevar After Bristol Brawl