“He Might’ve Messed With the Wrong Guy”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Warns Carson Hocevar After Nashville Incident With Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Carson Hocevar finished the Cup Series race at Nashville in second place. En route to this remarkable result, he picked up a few enemies. The most dangerous of them all was the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Those familiar with Stenhouse will know that Hocevar is in far more trouble than he realizes at the moment.

Stenhouse was racing to secure a good result in stage two when the youngster knocked him from behind to send him into the wall. It was a contact that he easily could have avoided, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., from the Prime Video broadcast booth, knew this all too well. The icon said post-race, “It is entertaining. I just don’t like it when he wrecks the good guy.

“You have got to pick and choose who your enemies are. You can’t just blanket the garage. I want him to really dial it back because it’s great as a fan to see him in controversy, we need a little color and personality and he brings tons of it.

“But the garage will police it a little bit. Nobody has stepped up to it just yet. But I think he might have messed with the wrong guy tonight.”

Stenhouse is known for being an aggressive person off the track. His fight with Kyle Busch after the 2024 All-Star Race hasn’t been erased from memories just yet. Hocevar better watch his back in the coming weekends.

Josh Berry, for one, expected him to get punched right after the race, and he relayed the same on his team radio. He said, “Might finally see the No. 77 get punched after that.” That shot will have to wait. But nearly everyone in the garage seems to know that it’s coming sooner or later.

What Stenhouse Jr. told the press after the race

Thanks to the crash, Stenhouse Jr. had to settle for a single point and a 39th-place finish instead of what should’ve been a day capitalizing on the average finish of 16.8 that he earned through the first 13 races of the season.

He told the media that Hocevar did not do anything uncharacteristic of him. But that doesn’t mean he will get to walk scot-free. Stenhouse said, “Bummed our day ended like that, definitely will have something to do about it at one point.” 

Hocevar, meanwhile, refused to apologize for the incident. He stated that he hadn’t seen the replay yet and that he will hold off on providing strong opinions until he does. A fresh rivalry could be brewing in the NASCAR Cup Series, and everyone will be watching keenly.