Carson Hocevar is having a great year – ninth in points, already locked into the playoffs, and a win at Talladega is already banked. But a week after Heim spun him out to win his first Cup race, reporters were still asking Hocevar about a wreck from nearly three years ago. His answer sounded less like an apology and more like a guy finally admitting he lost the argument.

“He was the deserving guy. I turned the hell out of him, but I didn’t plan to turn him. I was just trying to delay the inevitable of him probably driving away with it because his truck was so fast. I can’t take it back four years ago. He got me back and got a Cup win. I think you’d take a Cup win over a Truck championship any day of the week,” Hocevar told FOX.

It all began during the 2023 Truck Series championship race in Phoenix. Heim had just passed Hocevar on Lap 120 and was leading on fresher tires when he was soon spun by Hocevar, who hit Heim from behind. Both drivers managed to keep going; however, Heim’s charge fell flat, and he missed out on winning the championship. Heim then later pinched Hocevar into the wall with three laps remaining, as NASCAR fined him $12,500 and docked 25 points.

Heim said over the radio before the move, “He ain’t getting out of here tonight.” Ben Rhodes won the championship. Neither contender left with anything.

Fast forward to June 21, the San Diego street race. With twelve laps to go, Heim nosed into Hocevar’s bumper in the last chicane, spinning him out of second. Hocevar dropped to 19th, while Heim drove past Tyler Reddick for his first Cup win ever.

“At the end of the day, he wiped me out for a championship, so I’m always gonna have to kind of hold that grudge against him,” Heim made his intentions clear to Jeff Gluck on the Gluck Cast. “I don’t like how he races on the race track, and I won’t race him good either. I’m not taking it personally.”

Then the internet got involved.  When a fan posted on X, “Had to spin out Hocevar to win it. #77 will remember,” Heim responded by pulling up an old Hocevar interview clip in which Hocevar was asked what he’d say to drivers he’d wrecked: “Just get the f— out of the way, and there wouldn’t be a wreck… Just move.” Hocevar’s counter was an image of Dexter Morgan, the fictional serial killer, sitting in a dark room staring into the camera.

The banter extended into the week when Hocevar, guest-hosting The Dale Jr. Download, tried to get Heim on the line and couldn’t reach him, then posted that Heim must have had no cell service out west. Heim’s response was a dig at Hocevar’s Spectrum sponsorship: “Sorry dude, my Spectrum went out again… time to switch, I guess.” The official Xfinity Racing account joined in: “You were definitely Xfinity fast at Coronado.”

Underneath all of it, though, there was a private exchange telling a different story. Right after the race, Hocevar texted Denny Hamlin asking for Heim’s number. Hamlin assumed Hocevar wanted to congratulate him and passed it along. Per Heim on NASCAR Film Room, what Hocevar actually sent was: “I’ve had that coming for several years now. Congrats, enjoy it.” Heim replied: “Thanks. Yeah, fair enough.”