Carson Hocevar isn’t looking back at his fight with Ryan Blaney and wishing he had handled things differently.
Six days after the two NASCAR Cup Series drivers traded punches on pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hocevar was asked Friday at Kansas Speedway whether he regretted any part of how the night unfolded.
His answer was immediate.
“No, I don’t think so,” Hocevar said.
That doesn’t mean Hocevar left Bristol without thinking about what happened. In fact, one of the first people on his mind afterward was his father.
“You know, my dad’s probably the least controversial person I know in my life,” Hocevar said. “He’s got a local business, so he freaks out if he gets a bad Google review.
“So, yeah, I texted him. I was like, ‘Man, sorry about that.’ And, you know, he was proud that I, you know, defended myself.”
It was a revealing answer from Hocevar after a Bristol confrontation that dominated the NASCAR conversation throughout the week. NASCAR ultimately decided not to penalize either driver, and by the time the Cup Series arrived in Kansas, both were ready to move forward.
Neither, however, was pretending Bristol never happened.
Carson Hocevar Explains His View of Late Bristol Battle
The fight was the final act of a confrontation that began on the track.
Blaney and Hocevar were racing near the front late at Bristol when contact sent Blaney’s No. 12 Ford into the outside wall. Blaney’s race ended with a 33rd-place finish, while Hocevar went on to finish third.
Blaney approached Hocevar on pit road afterward, and the exchange turned physical before the two were separated.
For Hocevar, the circumstances leading up to that moment matter.
“If we’re racing anywhere lower than second, you know, I maybe look at it differently,” Hocevar said Friday. “I think Blaney does too.”
Hocevar’s point was straightforward. With a top position at stake in the closing laps at Bristol, neither driver was going to concede much.
“You’re going to be the most aggressive trying to hold onto that spot,” Hocevar said. “You know, we’ve been cool and stuff.”
That last part is important.
Nothing Hocevar said Friday suggested he arrived at Kansas looking to prolong a feud with Blaney. His comments instead separated two things: he doesn’t regret defending himself once the confrontation became physical, and he understands why the battle on the track became so intense in the first place.
NASCAR has effectively reached the same point.
The sanctioning body issued no penalties to Blaney or Hocevar following its review of the fight. Officials also determined there was no need to hold a meeting with the two drivers at Kansas.
Hocevar Delivers Classic Answer About His Knuckles
There was one more question Hocevar had to answer Friday.
Blaney arrived at Kansas still sporting a black eye from the fight, even joking that he wished it had healed faster. So naturally, Hocevar was asked how his own hands were feeling after the exchange.
His response brought a little levity to a story that had followed both drivers all week.
“Yeah, you know, I was good,” Hocevar said. “[Expletive], I don’t hit that hard.”
And with that, Hocevar seemed perfectly content to leave Bristol at Bristol.
He doesn’t regret what happened. NASCAR isn’t penalizing him for it. And despite one driver arriving in Kansas with a black eye, Hocevar made it clear Friday that he has no interest in carrying the fight into another race weekend.
Now both drivers have something considerably more important to worry about: what happens when they get back on the track at Kansas.
Carson Hocevar Has No Regrets About Bristol Fight With Ryan Blaney