Carson Hocevar’s woeful stretch of form continued at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. And, in what’s been a recurring theme this season, the Spire Motorsports driver found himself in controversy with rookie Connor Zilisch. An incident between them looked fairly predictable, given the way Hocevar was racing. But how he reacted when they finally did come together was very different from the explanation he provided post-race.

Hocevar spun after making contact with Zilisch’s Chevrolet on Lap 84 and instantly said over the team radio that they had experienced a similar incident in practice. However, post-race, he admitted in an interview with journalist Dustin Long that he himself was at fault.

“I spun myself out. He got into me, and I thought I was [unclear] something. I don’t know what I did, but I turned left to try and get to the bottom and cover it, and I think I pretty much just spun myself. Ruined another week for us,” the No. 77 driver said.

Up until that incident, Hocevar had a fairly decent race. He finished Stage 1 in third position, and looked set to improve on the results from two consecutive dismal weekends, 31st in Iowa, and 37th in Richmond. But the spin changed the course of his race.

Zilisch and Hocevar made contact on the frontstretch, sending the No. 77 Chevrolet into a spin and bringing out the caution. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon were also caught up in the aftermath, although all four drivers were able to continue. Hocevar eventually caught back up to Zilisch, with the two racing side-by-side before Hocevar moved into the No. 88 Chevrolet approaching Turn 1. The door-to-door contact pushed Zilisch out of the preferred groove.

Hocevar thought that Zilisch was aggressive. He said, “He ran into me in practice too”, to suggest that the Trackhouse youngster was at fault. But almost instantly, Zilisch and his team both agreed on the radio that Hocevar seems to put himself in situations like this.

Hocevar has polarized the garage with his overtly aggressive driving style, with several insiders calling him out for it. More often than not, the Spire Motorsports driver has also remained unapologetic about his actions. However, when it came to the New Hampshire incident, Hocevar eventually took responsibility.

It wasn’t a disastrous weekend for Hocevar, after all. He officially secured his spot in the Chase with one regular-season race to spare. However, it was still a missed opportunity to potentially break into the top 10. On Lap 203, Hocevar spun himself out, putting him a lap down to race winner Ryan Blaney by the finish and ultimately settling for 19th. In hindsight, though, the way his race started may have been an omen of things to come.

Hocevar’s spin gives Logano something to laugh about

Even before the drivers began racing, Hocevar had a moment on track that he would likely want to forget. The Dollar Tree 301, which was moved an hour earlier due to the threat of bad weather, began with the No. 77 Chevrolet spinning behind the pace car.

NASCAR had brought the start time forward in an effort to stay ahead of the incoming weather. However, the rain arrived sooner than expected, leaving the circuit extremely wet as the drivers took their pace laps on wet-weather tires.

Hocevar was among those trying to gauge the conditions, but his attempt went badly. He lost control while running behind the pace car, providing an early indication of just how treacherous the track had become.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano had a perfect view of the incident and could not resist taking a shot at Hocevar. “Look at this guy. Look at this idiot,” Logano said over the radio.

The moment was particularly amusing because the Team Penske driver and his team had already made their position clear. They were firmly “Team Thumbs Down” when asked whether the race should begin.

Hocevar, meanwhile, appeared to be on the opposite side of the argument. After his spin, he attempted to explain what had happened, later suggesting that he would rather test the surface while nobody else was around than wait for the green flag to drop with the entire field racing around him.

“I much rather test the track when no one’s around vs green flag and ppl around,” Hocevar wrote in a now-deleted post on X.

In the end, Hocevar’s weekend contained plenty of drama, from the wet-track spin to his confrontation with Zilisch. Yet his willingness to admit that he was ultimately at fault for his crash provided a more measured conclusion to a weekend that could easily have resulted in another major setback.