Zane Smith Calls Carson Hocevar An Idiot, Calls Out “Intimidator” Narrative Set By NASCAR Media

Zane Smith did not have a lot of comments to make after the run-in he had with Carson Hocevar at Iowa Speedway last weekend. His crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, had an incident with Hocevar on pit road and riled up a ton of conversations, but we did not hear from the driver himself. Fast forward to Watkins Glen on Saturday, and he made sure to let his thoughts be known.

The Front Row Motorsports driver, who was teammates with Hocevar last year at Spire Motorsports, is no longer a fan of him. He told the press, “I personally can’t go have a conversation with him without getting a $75,000 fine. Yeah, he’s just a dumb [expletive]. That’s just how it is.” $75,000 because that’s what Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fined for throwing hands at Kyle Busch in 2024.

Smith’s frustrations carried on, “I think that the media feeds into him trying to play this like ‘Intimidator’ role, but then he’ll act like he’s your buddy, and then just be an idiot on social media. I was teammates with him, and everyone at that race shop, everyone in this garage, realizes he’s an idiot.”

For months now, Hocevar has been compared to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and paralleled with the persona that the legend carried. Clearly, this isn’t something that Smith is fond of. There is every chance that Hocevar is picking enemies on the track just to live up to the image that the media is creating of him. But then, what is the point if he doesn’t back all the chaos up with Victory Lane visits?

Did Hocevar reach out to Smith after their run-in?

The incident that led to all the anger came when Hocevar lost control of his car when they entered Turn 1 at the Iowa Speedway. He washed up the banking and hit Smith’s left rear. The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports car spun hard into the SAFER barrier and ended any hope that Smith had of a decent finish.

Smith tried swiping back at Hocevar as revenge, but failed to do so. And after all this, Hocevar did not find the need to reach out to apologize. He said, “Why would I give a you-know-what to reach out? He took a swing, and if he wrecks me, then that’s cool, but I don’t know. He already took a swing. And, I mean, what’s the point?”

Either way, Smith is just the latest entry in Hocevar‘s long list of enemies. Hopefully, he doesn’t end up regretting antagonizing so many competitors in the future.