Dale Earnhardt Jr. says Carson Hocevar didn’t have to apologize for how he raced Ryan Blaney at Bristol, but the NASCAR veteran believes the young driver will eventually have to change how he races.
Earnhardt discussed the Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney incident on Tuesday’s edition of Dirty Air after their late-race crash turned into a fight on pit road. Joey Logano won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, but the Carson Hocevar controversy quickly became the main story.
With 43 laps left, Hocevar and Blaney battled for second when Blaney came down, and Hocevar’s No. 77 drove over the right front of Blaney’s No. 12. Blaney crashed into the wall, ending his race and hurting his championship position.
Carson Hocevar Did Not Have to Apologize for Bristol Crash
Earnhardt said Carson Hocevar did not have to give Ryan Blaney a break during the Bristol race. He said the short-track conditions made the incident difficult to avoid.
“Now, Hocevar does not have to. Doesn’t have to cut him a break. This was short track racing. You know, Blaney comes down. Carson didn’t have a whole lot of time to really consider cutting him a break even in that moment. Sometimes, you know, s*** happens so fast at Bristol, your mind’s in a blender. They’ve been running for, you know, lap after lap after lap, whipping around the racetrack.”
Earnhardt also pointed to an earlier incident involving Christopher Bell and Logano. Bell moved down on Logano, but Logano lifted and avoided contact. Logano later won the race.
“Is it smarter? Is it smarter to fing do what Joey did? Yeah. Joey won the race. That was a great, smart move by Joey not to fing wreck the 20. And he goes on and wins the race.”
Earnhardt then described the contact between Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney.
“But Hocevar had a run, goes to the inside, the 12 blocks. It spun him out. He f***ing drove over the right front of the 77.”
Ryan Blaney Lost Ground After Carson Hocevar Contact
Ryan Blaney entered the late stages of the Bristol race fighting near the front. He led a race-high 202 laps but finished 33rd after the crash with Carson Hocevar.
Hocevar finished third. Blaney also dropped to sixth in the Chase standings after the incident. The race ended with more action between the two drivers.
After the checkered flag, Blaney shoved Hocevar on pit road. Hocevar responded with two punches. NASCAR later said it would not penalize either driver for the fight.
The Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney clash therefore affected more than the finishing order. It also became one of the main stories from the Bristol race, even though Logano took the victory.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Says Carson Hocevar Must Learn
Earnhardt connected the Carson Hocevar incident to his own 2002 Bristol experience. He recalled wrecking Ward Burton after getting a run on him.
“If you watch the in-car camera, I get a little bit of a run up off the bottom. I’ve been behind him for a couple of laps, and I’m barely, barely better than him. … I dive to the inside, and we don’t even get to the corner, and I can tell that he’s coming down. And I actually straighten the wheel and don’t try to turn in the corner, and I clip him, spin him out. I did not have the intention of wrecking Ward Burton when I got in the throttle to exit turn two.”
Earnhardt said he still regrets that incident.
“If I could undo that, I would definitely not wreck Ward Burton. I bet you deep down, I bet you that Hocevar feels the same way. I bet you Hocevar feels like, yeah, I really didn’t have to do that. I do. I know he probably doesn’t act that way.”
Earnhardt later summed up his view of the Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney incident.
“I fed up and wrecked Ward. He fed up and wrecked Blaney. He could have cut him a break. He doesn’t have to cut him a break, though. He gets the run. He makes the move. He’s a race car driver. He’s racing now.”
Earnhardt also compared Hocevar’s early-career style to drivers such as Brad Keselowski.
“Brad Keselowski did the same thing at the start of his career. So did I. So did a lot of them. And I mean, he’s going to have to learn. He can’t sustain this activity throughout his career. He can’t and he won’t. He’ll grow up and mature and make different choices as he gets older.”
For Earnhardt, the Bristol race showed that Hocevar did not have to back out of the move. But he also believes the 23-year-old will have to make different choices as his NASCAR career continues.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. Says Carson Hocevar Cannot Keep Doing This