“If he wants to talk, I’ll gladly talk. But…” Well, when Carson Hocevar welcomed a post-race conversation in Nashville, he left it hanging with a huge ‘but’. The No. 77 Chevy driver bumped the No. 47 car and sent him sliding right-rear first into the wall. Ricky Stenhouse Jr was visibly frustrated, and a swathe of NASCAR veterans took his side. He avoided confronting Hocevar and waited for an apology. However, Hocevar may have lost that privilege.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr, the 2023 Daytona 500 winner, is known for his heavy responses. This is your cue to remember the 2024 All-Star Race brawl where he punched Kyle Busch. Is a similar fallout awaiting Carson Hocevar? Well, the plot is thickening in that regard.

Time to brace for impact, Carson Hocevar

The Spire Motorsports driver has a penchant for avoiding apologies. During the 2025 Ambetter Health 400 race, Carson Hocevar ticked off many rivals. His aggressive moves drew the ire of Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. During the last stage, he got into the back of Ryan Blaney on lap 234, sending the No. 12 for a long spin. Despite these controversial moves, Hocevar did not issue apologies to his competitors. Instead, he simply regretted coming in front of Kyle Larson’s winning ambitions. Similarly, that nonchalant attitude is playing out in the Nashville fiasco. After causing Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s wreck, Hocevar tried to defend his moves. Hocevar said he expected Stenhouse to clear him, and he almost got wrecked, too.

On top of that defensive attitude, Carson Hocevar has not rung up Ricky Stenhouse Jr after the Cracker Barrel 400. A phone call usually ensures there is no misunderstanding in a wreck, but the youngster has not taken that effort. Stenhouse promptly delivered a heavy comment on The Motor Stardom Show: “Obviously, I’ve been in the sport a long time. If you make a mistake like that, you pick up the phone as quick as you can, especially if you feel bad about it…I haven’t got a call from him, to my point, he doesn’t really care about it…If that’s the ground he wants to stand on, that’s completely fine, but definitely would be something I won’t forget. If I don’t hear from him by the weekend, I’ll probably confront him, and we’ll figure it out.” Well, the only thing that stopped Stenhouse from a post-race confrontation was his hefty $75,000 fine for the 2024 All-Star Race fistfight. Nevertheless, revenge seems to be brewing.

That is what Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin strongly believes. He warned Carson Hocevar against an upcoming wreck pointed at him. Hamlin said, “You can take this to the book. Ricky Stenhouse will absolutely wreck Carson Hocevar sometime in the near future. That’s just a fact. I would put this week’s salary on it, I’m not kidding you. He ain’t gonna punch him in the face, but he’ll absolutely wreck him. Because Ricky’s that kind of guy… He’s gonna feed into what people say… He’ll make sure you know. If you’re Carson, just know that it’s coming.”

Similar calls of warning stemmed from other parts of the garage, too. Kevin Harvick also urged the youngster to be wiser for the long run.

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Is Hocevar hurting his own career now?

Granted, Carson Hocevar has developed an iconic personality for himself. Dale Earnhardt Jr even went to the extent of comparing him with Dale Sr. The Intimidator also did not care for his reputation and just focused on finishing well. Hocevar did just that, charging through the field to clinch a runner-up finish in Nashville. Even the Vice President of Competition at Hendrick Motorsports, Chad Knaus, personally came down the pit road to congratulate the youngster. That set off a round of Silly Season rumors among fans. Yet despite the dazzling race performance, Kevin Harvick believed that Hocevar needs to polish his attitude. The 2014 Cup Series champion rolled out crucial advice.

Shunning an apologetic attitude is not helpful, especially with NASCAR’s stringent rules in this age. Dale Earnhardt Sr drove to glory over two decades ago, and Carson Hocevar drives in a different age. No wonder Kevin Harvick urged a wiser approach to handle conflicts: “I think that the most important thing is to handle the political side of it off the racetrack, to make sure he’s doing that correctly. I think, you know, handling the scenario with Stenhouse correctly is important, and everybody else — I don’t know how he’s handled those scenarios up to this point. If I were Spire and I were in the management position, the most important thing is to handle it correctly, with the competitors, politically. There is a political side of this that, you know, unfortunately — it’s consistent.”

Evidently, Spire’s sophomore driver is playing with fire right now. Unless Carson Hocevar makes up for his actions, payback may be incoming in the following races.