Stenhouse Says Hocevar Still Hasn't Called Him After Nashville Crash
Carson Hocevar has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most aggressive drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. In just his second season, the driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet has had dust-ups with several drivers, but the latest run-in may have been an uncalculated move by the 22-year-old driver.
On Lap 106 of last Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, Hocevar made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Turns 3 and 4, which sent Stenhouse spinning into the outside wall, which resulted in a last-place finish for Stenhouse.
In an instant, Stenhouse, who had his No. 47 HYAK Motorsports car sitting above the Playoff cutline for weeks, saw himself punted from Playoff contention due to the over-aggressive move from Hocevar in the early portion of the event at Nashville. Adding fuel to the frustration, Hocevar would go on to finish a career-best second in the race.
On Tuesday night, Stenhouse was asked on the Motor Stardom Show on YouTube whether he has spoken with Hocevar since the incident, to which Stenhouse responded that he hadn't, which he feels shows how much his competitor cares about the situation.
No call yet from Carson Hocevar yet to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
— RJ Starcevic (@RJStarcevic) June 4, 2025
Watch full episode now -> https://t.co/UooJDmackA#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/oW6bZlUhbN
"Obviously, I've been in this sport a long time. If you make a mistake like that, you generally pick up the phone as quick as you can, especially if you feel bad about it. I mean, if you don't, you just roll on with it. No, I've not gotten a call from him," Stenhouse explained. "I've talked to his [car] owner. Jeff Dickerson and I are super tight. Yeah, no, I haven't gotten a call from him, so, to my point, he doesn't really care about it. Which, you know, is fine. If that's the ground he wants to stand on, that's completely fine, but it definitely will be something I won't forget. You know, if I don't hear from him by the weekend, I'll probably confront him, and we'll figure it out."
How they will go about figuring it out is what has everyone compelled, currently.
On this week's Actions Detrimental Podcast, Denny Hamlin expressed certainty that Stenhouse will retaliate on Hocevar by crashing his newfound rival out.
"Ricky Stenhouse will absolutely wreck Carson Hocevar sometime in the near future. That's just a fact. I'd put this week's salary on it. I'm not kidding you," Hamlin stated. "He ain't gonna punch him in the face, but he will absolutely wreck him because Ricky's that kind of guy who is going to feed into people saying, 'Are you going to get him?'"
Hamlin continued, "If you're Carson, just know that it's coming. So, don't be surprised.
"There's nothing I'm more confident of right now other than Jordan [Fish] having a baby and Ricky wrecking Carson. I just feel that is inevitable. I don't think there's anything Carson can say."
While Hamlin is convinced that Hocevar will be on the receiving end of on-track retaliation from Stenhouse, Jeff Dickerson, the co-owner of Spire Motorsports, said on this week's Door Bumper Clear Podcast that he feels Stenhouse will take care of his spat with Hocevar off of the track.
"I certainly don't want to get in car crashing contests out there, right? And Ricky, to me, is a guy like he's not going to wreck our car," Dickerson said. "He's going to go beat the hell out of him. You know what I'm saying? Which is how it probably should be."
However, Stenhouse saw first hand after taking a swing at Kyle Busch following a crash in the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway last year how expensive throwing fists in the NASCAR Cup Series garage can be. Will he be willing to pay that price in order to exact his revenge upon Hocevar? Or will he take the chances of attempting to get him back on the track, where he can potentially make it look like an accident?
Who knows, but one thing is for sure, just about everybody feels like we aren't done with this feud that was sparked last Sunday, and with each passing day that Stenhouse doesn't hear from Hocevar, the anger Stenhouse feels about the incident likely ratchets up a notch.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.