Zane Smith’s Wild ‘Wreck Attempt’ at Carson Hocevar Sparks Fan Frenzy

Another day, another feud with Carson Hocevar. The Spire Motorsports sophomore driver ruffles feathers every other race weekend, and this time, it was Zane Smith. On lap 229 of the Iowa Corn 350 race, Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet appeared to get loose under Smith’s No. 38 Ford. Smith was running 23rd at the time, but he spun out and backed into the Turn 1 wall.

Yet as it turned out, the Front Row Motorsports driver’s misery did not end there. Not only did Zane Smith lose a potential good result, but his vengeful desire also did not work out. Carson Hocevar escaped, and fans were left shaking their heads.

Carson Hocevar dodges a payback move

For Zane Smith, 2025 has been a fairly decent season. In 2024, he had a lackluster tenure as a rookie driver at Spire Motorsports. Carson Hocevar’s outstanding stats pushed Smith and Corey LaJoie off their Spire seats. However, Smith has been doing a good job under Front Row in 2025, clinching 8 top fives and 3 top tens so far. The top five finishes could have been ten if not for crashes, which plagued Smith in Dover and Indianapolis. In those venues, Smith fell prey to Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell’s incidents. This time in Iowa, it was none other than the rabble-rouser Hocevar himself. So, Smith lost his temper.

Right after the lap 229 collision, Smith was not happy with his No. 38 Ford spotter. “Gotta quit telling me how to f—— drive these things, dude. Every time I poke into the middle, we get f—— wrecked,” he said. After unloading his frustration on his own crew, Zane Smith then sought payback from Carson Hocevar on lap 238. A NASCAR fan posted a video from Smith’s in-car camera to show the evidence. However, the jaw-dropping factor was how Smith narrowly missed right-rear hooking Hocevar. The No. 77 Chevrolet slipped away, leaving Smith embarrassed and chafing.

Eventually, Zane Smith finished 36th, while Carson Hocevar went on to finish in 8th place. This marked yet another heartbreaking loss of a good opportunity for Smith, who was looking forward to Iowa. He told Dustin long just before the race, “We gotta look at the positives, and our positives are at least we’re running good. We’ve been pretty strong all year, just hard to get talked about when you run 11th through 15th a lot of the race and sneak your way into top 10. It’s tough, but the past few weeks, nothing has been in our control. Last week was for sure going to be top-10, top-five day and unfortunately, it was taken from us.”

Unfortunately, Carson Hocevar took it again from Zane Smith and his team in Iowa. Yet the fans were more interested in Smith’s failed vengeful tactics later on.

Fans dissect Smith’s tactics 

Well, the intentions were evident in Zane Smith’s emotions. Smith did not mince his words on the radio after losing 6 laps due to the wreck. Then, post-race, Smith’s crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, launched a barrage of curses at Carson Hocevar. But eventually, the NASCAR community taunted Smith for failing to get back at Hocevar. One fan made fun of his lap 238 moves: “I saw this in person and saw him miss and go wide. That shit was so funny”. In case, Zane Smith was successful, it would not have ended well for him. The FRM driver may have landed Austin Hill’s fate in Indianapolis – a one-race suspension. So one fan was glad that he missed his shot: “It’s probably best that he missed. Unless he REALLY didn’t want to go Watkins Glen next week.”

Another fan came to the defense of Carson Hocevar. Unlike the Spire star’s actions against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Nashville, this time, Hocevar was not looking to wreck anyone. The fan compared his moves to those of his peers, like Kyle Busch’s actions, which spun out Shane van Gisbergen. They wrote, “I understand Zane was pissed, but Carson just got loose like 25 other cars did on corner entry and booped him. KB did it to SVG, Briscoe did it to Bell and Reddick, someone did it to Bubba. Zane needs to learn the art of plausible deniability.”

Some other people thought more about Zane Smith’s intentions. Maybe he was not trying to wreck Carson Hocevar and simply warning him? After all, right-rear hooking a driver is not so difficult. One fan floated this idea: “Honestly, this seems calculated. Zane isn’t a guy known for losing his cool or tearing stuff up. I think this was him sending a message at best. If I’m wrong, well he didn’t touch him who cares.” Somebody else referred to Austin Dillon’s 2024 bump-and-run in Richmond. They wanted Dillon to get back at Hocevar, if not Smith. The comment read, “Right or not, Hocevar doesn’t have the benefit of the doubt and it’s nice someone tried it. At least it’s here and not Indianapolis. Take notes Austin.”

Clearly, Zane Smith’s actions sparked a buzz in the NASCAR community. We can only wait and see if there will be a sequel to his face-off with Carson Hocevar.