Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed he texted Zane Smith following last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland. Smith was involved in an on-track incident with Carson Hocevar, which sent the two crashing into the wall.
The Front Row Motorsports driver bumped Hocevar going into turn one. While it appeared Smith was aiming to send the driver of the No. 77 into the wall, the contact resulted in both of them plowing into the outside retaining wall.
Earnhardt Jr.’s text to Smith: ‘You just can’t do that’
On a recent episode of “The Dale Jr. Download,” Earnhardt Jr. could not find anything involving Hocevar and Smith that led up to the incident.
Perhaps Hocevar was aeroblocking Smith, Earnhardt Jr. said, or that it was a retaliation move on Smith’s part from a previous race.
The bottom line is that Earnhardt Jr. said Smith wrecking himself is something that cannot happen. In a text message that Earnhardt Jr. said Smith did not reply to, the JR Motorsports owner gave him his thoughts on the incident.
“I reached out to Zane and he didn’t reply back to me. … I’m sure he’s pissed off. I’m like, ‘Dude, I like the aggression but you can’t wreck yourself. You just can’t do that.’ … He puts too much effort into this to go out there and do that to himself. Not to mention the car and the crew and ownership and partners,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
It was something Earnhardt Jr. did not like to see as he is fond of Smith and hopes he sticks around in NASCAR for a long time. Because Smith does not have a large resume in the sport yet, he cannot afford incidents like the one at Chicagoland.
“I just hated to see it because I like him as a driver and as a person. I like Zane a lot and I want him to be around and I want his deal to work. I want him to be a successful race car driver in this sport and I don’t know that he’s got enough roots into the ground to go out there and do those kinda things,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
Smith showing improvement in the 2026 NASCAR Cup season
Despite finishing 28th last Sunday at Chicagoland, Zane Smith has shown tremendous progress in his second full-time season at Front Row Motorsports. After 19 races, the 27-year-old sits 23rd in the points standings, 62 points behind The Chase cut line.
Smith kicked off the 2026 season with back-to-back top 10s in the Daytona 500 and at Atlanta. He recorded his first top-five finish of the campaign with a fifth-place result at Talladega.
Smith looked strong in the Coca-Cola 600 last May, leading laps and earned a 10th-place finish. At Nashville, Smith was leading in the late laps in an attempt to pull off a fuel mileage victory. However, he wound up finishing ninth.
Smith’s latest strong result was a fourth-place finish at Naval Base Coronado. Sunday’s incident with Hocevar might have been a blip in the road, but there is no doubt Smith has shown improvement in 2026.
NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Reveals Text to Zane Smith After Chicagoland