“Might finally see the No. 77 get punched after that.” This is what Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry said after a Lap 105 incident at Nashville that took him back in time. Berry was referencing an iconic clash between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch last season, and felt the need for a repeat telecast! However, who was the driver that irked Stenhouse Jr. this time?

Well, another race weekend, another Carson Hocevar chaos story. The No. 77 Spire Motorsports car has successfully established itself as a car-eater in the NASCAR Cup Series 2025 season. Hocevar has sparked controversy several times this season, like aggressively passing rivals in Atlanta to elicit expletives from a two-time Cup Series champion. Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch have fallen prey to his antics so far. Now, another driver is up – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Is Carson Hocevar in trouble?

Oh, my. The last time Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rolled up his sleeves, the fallout was far from pleasant. After the 2024 All-Star Race, the Hyak Motorsports driver stole the headlines by landing an upper-cut on Kyle Busch. It was a retaliation for the latter’s on-track antics on Lap 2. What Carson Hocevar did at the Cracker Barrel 400 race, however, was way worse. During Stage 2, Ricky was running 17th when Hocevar hit him from behind. Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet lost control and hit the outside wall of Nashville Superspeedway.

What resulted was a visibly angry Ricky Stenhouse Jr slamming his wheel. In an interview after his wreck, the driver detailed what Carson Hocevar did. He said, “Just not real good with that exit, especially in stage 2 there. He tried to dive-bomb me two laps before that from about 10 or 12 car-lengths back. He was finally close enough that time to wipe us out.” He continued, “I think that’s definitely over-aggressive. I think that’s Carson. Maybe I shouldn’t cause a riot, let him go. If he had gotten to my inside, I would have let him go, but he just kept dive-bombing me.” So, when journalist Matt Weaver asked him if he would make a payback conversation, Stenhouse replied: “Oh, I will.”

“If you’re a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fan, you probably don’t like Carson Hocevar today,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Amazon Prime broadcast. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. entered the Nashville race 13th in the regular season standings and 10 points above the cut-line in the provisional playoff grid after. Unfortunately, Carson Hocevar‘s wreck landed him in 39th or last place and gave him one point. Stenhouse added, “Bummer for the whole team, we’ve been putting in good work, putting ourselves in little positions. We were 17th-18th there. And I felt like we were making our car better. We were falling off too far on the longer run…Unfortunately, we could not get a shot.”

Clearly, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has very good reasons to lash back at Carson Hocevar. What is more? A respected veteran of the sport supports him.

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Stenhouse gets the green light

Well, is that a signal for another fight? Let’s hope that it is not a physical one. Nevertheless, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has solid reasons to be mad at Carson Hocevar. Before the wreck, he and his single-car team had been a model of consistency, making the most of what they had. With an average finish of 16.8, he was second among all drivers in laps completed.

All that effort went down the drain when Hocevar decided to pull off one of his usual aggressive stunts. The young speedster has sparked controversy several times. From spinning Corey Heim and himself out of contention in the 2023 Craftsman Truck playoffs to intentionally wrecking Harrison Burton in Daytona, Hocevar’s reputation has not been shiny.

It further took a hit at Nashville, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. took note of the lap 106 wreck. The NASCAR veteran sided with Ricky Stenhouse Jr: “He might see Stenhouse after this one is over with…The tough part about this, man… Hocevar drives up down in the corner, and there was a moment where Hocevar definitely had an opportunity to not do that. That’s the kind of thing that his competitors want him to clean up. Hocevar thinks, in his mind, ‘It’s short track racing. That’s my spot. I’m gonna go down there and move you out of the way.’ But his competitors don’t see it that way.”

With a voice of support by his side, fans will root for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Let us see how that backlash happens, and whether Hocevar can survive Ricky’s wrath!