While Dale Earnhardt Jr. backed Carson Hocevar’s aggressive style at both Nashville and Mexico, even drawing comparisons to his late father, Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Petty took a sharply different tone after the events south of the border and didn’t mince words in holding the Spire Motorsports driver to account.
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Speaking on NASCAR Live alongside Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton, Petty didn’t sugarcoat his stance. He said, “This one I’m going to mark up to straight stupidity on Carson’s part. This should have never happened… He should have never put himself in that position. He was out of the race. He was having a bad day. Don’t make it worse. And he made it worse.”
Petty continued, “So when you look at it, you have to look and say, “Think, Carson. Think… He may go the rest of his career and never get within 15 feet of Ricky Stenhouse on the racetrack. He may learn from this, but this one was totally uncalled for.”
He didn’t stop there, adding, “And Ricky had every right to go over to the window, snatch his window net down, pull him out through it and just beat him to a pulp right there on the side of the racetrack, because this one — when somebody does something that stupid, it makes you madder than when they do it intentionally.”
At Nashville, Hocevar drew criticism after running into the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet during Stage 2, sending it hard into the outside wall. Stenhouse, who was running 17th at the time, saw his race end on the spot, finishing last and collecting only a single point. In the aftermath, Stenhouse waited for Hocevar to reach out, expecting a conversation to settle the matter, which eventually did happen.
But when the duo tangled again in Mexico with just 10 laps to go, tempers boiled over. This time, the contact occurred in the stadium section, sending both cars spinning. Though they continued, Stenhouse somehow dragged his car home to finish 27th, and Hocevar rolled in 34th. Frustration finally spilled into confrontation. As Hocevar remained strapped into his seat, Stenhouse stormed to his window and warned he would “beat your a— when we get back to the States.”
After Nashville, Petty sang a different tune, aligning with Earnhardt Jr. on Fast Talk and drawing bold parallels between Hocevar’s combative approach and the one Dale Earnhardt made legendary. He even noted the irony in Amazon Prime’s criticism of Hocevar, given the same traits once defined the sport’s greatest icon. He reminded fans that this sort of clash has always been part of the game. But following Mexico, Petty’s patience wore thin.
Yet not everyone has turned their back on Hocevar. Mark Martin doubled down in support of Earnhardt Jr.’s evaluation, saying, “We need Hocevar to continue being a rocket ship, and we need him to bounce off of people and stuff,” underlining his belief that Hocevar’s edge brings much-needed fire to the sport.
