Driver feuds are practically NASCAR’s bread and butter. Officials disapprove of it because of the intentional wrecks, and that sets a bad precedent. On the other side of the scale, NASCAR loves promoting such feuds. The latest one revolves around Carson Hocevar and Brad Keselowski. In light of this, defending champion Kyle Larson had a say on the matter.

“I have no thought on that, really,” he said in an X post. “Obviously, if Brad is around him, I would keep my eyes peeled a little bit more. But more just like when you’re behind it, you’re like hoping something cool happens and they do it, and you don’t get caught up in it. That’d be funny.”

The whole thing started when Keselowski and Hocevar collided at Darlington. In the aftermath, the 2012 Cup champion swore revenge, and Hocevar welcomed it. However, Larson was worried about collateral damage in the quest for revenge. In the sense that if Keselowski really carried out his threat, innocent drivers would be caught up in the fallout.

Kyle’s comments to Cameron Richardson also came with the added condition of him not getting caught up in it.

Intentional wrecking is considered pretty bad sportsmanship. As it is, motor racing is pretty dangerous, so deliberately putting another driver’s life in danger will obviously be frowned upon.

Of course, no one is going to be that stupid to intentionally put another driver’s life in danger. It is probably likely that Keselowski was hugely emotional in the immediate aftermath of the Darlington crash.

Brad Keselowski has no personal stakes in the championship fight. He didn’t make the Playoffs, but Carson Hocevar did, so can the Spire driver really afford to make enemies?

On the other end of the scale, Keselowski’s two drivers, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece, are also in the Chase. As such, the #6 driver will do everything he can to play the team game.

The Hendrick Motorsports star remembered his own wreck episode

On the subject of intentional wrecking, Kyle Larson was actually a victim of one. Back in 2022, Larson and Bubba Wallace tangled together at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At the time, they went three-wide with another car, and Wallace’s car was squeezed into the outside wall.

Needless to say, the 23XI Racing driver did not appreciate the stunt and instantly retaliated. He drove his #23 car down the track and right-hooked the #5 Chevrolet straight into the outside wall. In addition to that, Larson’s out-of-control car then collected an innocent Christopher Bell and ended his race as well.

Unfortunately, even after all the wrecked cars came to a stop, Wallace wasn’t done yet. He proceeded to storm up to Larson and argue with him before pushing and shoving him.

All the while, the then-defending champion was trying to de-escalate the situation and calm things down. In the end, NASCAR took a dim view of what Bubba Wallace was doing, and subsequently punished him.

The punishment was that the #23 driver (driving #45 that day) was handed a one-race suspension. Fortunately, after some time to reflect on his actions, Wallace apologised publicly, and everyone moved on. Since then, there have been a few stray instances of intentional wrecking, which have all been punished.

Interestingly, even the open admission of intentionally wrecking a driver gets the culprit in trouble. Denny Hamlin found that out the hard way when he admitted on his podcast to wrecking Ross Chastain in 2023.

Now it remains to be seen if Brad Keselowski will really carry out his threat to Carson Hocevar. This is because NASCAR will most likely be closely monitoring him for the rest of the season.