Dale Earnhardt Jr. has called out Zane Smith for a reckless move at Chicagoland on Sunday. On lap 32 of 267 of the NASCAR Cup Series race, the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports driver drove into the back of Carson Hocevar in Turn 2. In doing so, he not only spun the Spire Motorsports driver into the wall but also spun himself and shoved his own team’s efforts down the drain.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Both drivers, who recorded their 100th Cup starts on Sunday, were okay and continued with their races after the incident. However, they eventually finished a lap down, with Hocevar in 22nd and Smith in 28th. Dale Jr spoke about this incident in detail on his podcast, “Dale Jr Download.”
“Zane Smith goes down in a corner, and he wipes out Carson Hocevar, and he wipes himself out,” the NASCAR Hall of Famer began. “I’m like, ‘What in the hell? What was that? What was going on in the last couple of laps that started that s–t?’ And honestly, I don’t know that anything was going on. Maybe Hocevar did a little air-blocking that pissed him off.”
Dale Jr. then brought up the history between the two former Spire teammates. They famously crashed together at Iowa in 2025. In that race, Hocevar lost control of his car in Turn 1, went high, and clipped Smith’s left rear on lap 229 of 350, sending him into a spin. That had left the No. 38 FRM squad infuriated, with a crew member later confronting Hocevar on pit road.
After Sunday’s race, Dale Jr. texted Smith to get some answers.
“I reached out to Zane, he didn’t reply back to me,” Dale Jr. said. “But I was like, I’m sure he’s pissed off. I’m like, dude, I like the aggression, but you can’t wreck yourself. He puts too much effort into this to go out there and do that to himself. Not to mention the car, the crew, the ownership, and partners.”
Dale Jr. made it clear that there is a limit to how a driver should handle frustration on the track.
“I think there’s a line,” he continued. “I think that Zane crossed it because he wrecked himself. He crossed a line that maybe, as a driver, you don’t want to cross… Everybody in the sport, everybody in the industry, and the garage knows Zane f—ed up. He knows they know, and he’s served his penalty; he’s served his shame.”
Dale Jr. also admitted that he liked Zane Smith as a person and a racer, but couldn’t see why he would ruin his “positive momentum” with such a mistake. Both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty shared similar opinions. They highlighted that Smith wrecking himself made no sense in that spot.
Fortunately for Smith, NASCAR didn’t penalize him. However, NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde revealed on the “Hauler Talk” podcast that the two drivers would be called for a meeting in the hauler on Saturday during the Atlanta race weekend.