Retired NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace says Austin Cindric should have wrecked Carson Hocevar at Martinsville instead of absorbing repeated brake-checks, delivering a blunt, seven-word message on Dirty Mo’ Media’s “Herm and Schrader” podcast Wednesday.
“Austin, wreck him! What are you doing?” Wallace declared on the podcast. He then compared the Hocevar-Cindric confrontation to the 1994 Jim Carrey movie Dumb and Dumber.
Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford limped to a 36th-place finish after the damage from the Hocevar brake-checks, while Hocevar sits out the Homestead-Miami finale, according to Fox Sports‘ Bob Pockrass.
Wallace, speaking on the podcast, pinpointed the second brake-check as the moment Cindric needed to retaliate.
“I got to call a spade a spade. Austin, this was all your fault. You should’ve wrecked him windshield deep. Buddy, you do not let somebody do something like that to you,” Wallace said.
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric Draws Kenny Wallace Criticism
Wallace counted the brake-checks at three or four. “He knocked the whole front end of Austin Cindric’s car straight off,” he said.
Wallace also chose the venue for the payback.
“And that was the perfect place to do it. Martinsville. Because if you do it Miami-Homestead you could hurt him. You’re going awfully fast at Miami-Homestead,” Wallace said.
Hocevar’s online store has turned feuds into sales before, promoting a discount after his Darlington run-in with Brad Keselowski.
“You should’ve took care of wrecking Carson Hocevar right then and right there. And you know what? Carson would’ve laughed because he’d have sold more T-shirts,” Wallace said, as quoted by EssentiallySports.
Dale Earnhardt handed Wallace the seat for his first NASCAR start, at Martinsville in 1988. The youngest of the three racing Wallace brothers, he went on to make 904 career starts across three series, including nine wins in the Xfinity Series. He retired in 2015 and co-hosts the podcast with Ken Schrader.
Spire Motorsports Suspends Carson Hocevar After Martinsville
SMT data showed Hocevar brake-checking Cindric during Stage 2 of the Nov. 1 Xfinity 500. On Inside the Race, crew chief Steve Letarte and former driver Jamie McMurray measured 1,000 pounds of brake pressure from Hocevar on the straightaway.
Cindric questioned NASCAR’s tolerance over the radio, saying drivers were “weaponizing cars,” according to EssentiallySports. Hocevar told reporters it was normal racing. “It’s just Martinsville,” he said, according to Pockrass.
Spire suspended him Tuesday.
“The way Carson conducted himself at Martinsville doesn’t meet the standard we set for our drivers, team members or employees, and there are consequences for that,” co-owner Jeff Dickerson said, according to Pockrass.
Hocevar responded on social media. “I crossed the line with my on-track actions,” he said.
NASCAR then hit Hocevar with a $100,000 fine and 25-point deduction for multiple code of conduct violations. Josh Berry drew $50,000 and 25 points for brake-checking Ryan Blaney.
NBC analysts Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett rejected the “just Martinsville” defense. “It’s your job not to lose yourself. You’re a professional race car driver,” Burton said, according to MotorBiscuit. “That’s not racing whatsoever,” Jarrett said.
Kevin Harvick compared brake checking to a hook.
“Usually you hold that for your worst enemies,” he said on his “Happy Hour” podcast.
Wallace’s podcast partner took the same side in September. Schrader said Hocevar “needs to be crashed a half a dozen times,” according to Yardbarker.
NASCAR Vet Kenny Wallace Drops Blunt 7-Word Take on Carson Hocevar Incident