Ryan Blaney is the chill guy in the NASCAR garage. He is infamous for his radio rant, but he’s pretty civil when the helmet comes off. Things got heated at Bristol as Blaney took punches from Carson Hocevar. What was supposed to be a war of words escalated into a brawl. Something that Blaney wasn’t anticipating himself.
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Blaney himself was left surprised by what went down at Bristol with Carson Hocevar on pit road. He refused to speak to the media after the brawl but chose Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast to open up about the events on pit road.
“I wasn’t planning on throwing anything. I just really wanted to grab him and just kinda pretty much yell at him, and show my displeasure,” said Blaney. “But I look at it as, well, if someone comes up to me and then, granted, I kinda pushed him at the chest and kinda grabbed him pretty aggressively, you’re probably going to defend yourself. And he rightfully did.”
Blaney admitted that when he was with his crew, right before he walked up to Hocevar, he had no clue what was going to happen. He did say that he didn’t want to take his crew members with him because that would have been the first move of instigation, something Blaney doesn’t stand for. Blaney said he handed his phone to his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, who had no clue what was going to happen next.
“So he landed a pretty good right hand,” admitted Blaney, before adding, “ It got me pretty good. And the hat just kind of flung off my head. So that one got me pretty good. And so when that happened, I was like, okay, well, I should probably return fire at this point. And so I had that prepared. And then Alan, the security guy, he subdued that pretty quick.”
Blaney was then removed by other NASCAR officials, while his own crew as well as Hocevar’s crew appeared on the spot, which is when Hocevar got a hold of Blaney’s race suit and landed another blow.
“I see the second one coming, and I’m kind of immobilized,” Blaney continued. “In my mind, I’m like, alright, I’m just going to eat this thing, and continue to yell at him and stare at him while I just eat this. And I’ll give it to him; he tagged me in the same exact spot that he got me the first time, right here in my cheekbone.”
The scuffle continued, and Blaney was brought to the floor, and he admitted that he continued to swear at Hocevar all through. While Blaney was on the floor, the crowd between the drivers increased, and confrontations between the No. 77 crew and the No. 12 crew began, and yet no one was checking Blaney.
“And so I got back in there and, you know, kind of tackled this one guy into Carson and tried to jab a left kinda missed, um, at that point then, and then really it was over,” said Blaney.
While Blaney took a good five minutes to break down the entire incident to Hamlin and was man enough to admit that he was caught twice by Hocevar on the very same spot, the Chevy driver denied feeling Blaney’s blow completely.
“I’m sure he’s really frustrated,” said Hocevar, after the brawl. “I think this chase is working out pretty good. Because I think he’s just probably more mad at the situation than he is at me. And I’m a good punching bag. But I didn’t get punched.”
But with a day to reflect on it before the Penske driver opened up on the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran’s podcast, Blaney admitted that whatever went down on pit road wasn’t something he is proud of. And when he races, he aspires to do things differently and be a good example of a NASCAR driver.
“It was weird to me, cause I was the opposite of what I normally was,” said Blaney. “Like I was calm initially and ramped up after the race, and where I’m usually kind of ramped up initially and then calm after the race. But yeah, I just wish I wouldn’t have done that.”
This was the first instance where Blaney got involved in a fight. Usually he is pretty composed outside the car, and he does his talking on the racetrack. The only difference this time around was that he wanted to voice his displeasure to Hocevar, and rightly so. He’s dropped to 6th in the points standings, chasing a 52-point gap over the leader, Kyle Larson.
Unlike Brad Keselowski, Blaney did not air out more warnings or a comeback against Hocevar. He understands that he is still in the Chase, and what happened cannot define the rest of the season. But ruling out a prolonged rivalry between the two drivers would be naive, as things can turn wild in a matter of laps. That was the case at Bristol.