In Stage 2 at Michigan, Carson Hocevar was the catalyst for the big one. The wreck on a restart ended up collecting multiple cars and angering multiple teams and drivers. It’s not an uncommon story for Hocevar in his early Cup Series career, and is honestly part of his appeal to many fans.
Following the finish, Bubba Wallace (P3) was seen on pit road speaking with Carson Hocevar (P5). Wallace became a bit animated by the end of the conversation, but it seemed to be cordial enough for the two top-five finishers. A veteran driver trying to talk to a young up-and-comer, again, not an unfamiliar scene in NASCAR.
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Jeff Gluck of The Athletic capture the exchange between the drivers, and then the reaction from Wallace and Hocevar after. Safe to say, it might be another lesson that Hocevar isn’t hearing.
“He’s fast, he’s fast and he deserves to be in victory lane multiple times out of the year but making mistakes is going to cost him, and he hasn’t realized that yet. … I mean, I was pissed,” Wallace said, via Gluck. “Yeah. He’s playing the game, the point by letting me and Larson by and the 43 by was nice, but it doesn’t ease the pain. That’s what I told him. I don’t know if you’re doing that on purpose, but you’re having to do that because you’re like, ‘Ah, man I wrecked that guy earlier, I wrecked him last week, I gotta.’ Just stop hitting (expletive) you can race to your potential.”
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When asked if he believes Hocevar listened? Now, that’s another issue entirely.
“It’s Hocevar. Who knows? We’ll see.”
For Hocevar, he focused on how good his car was on the day, and the finish where he lost the race to Hamlin.
“Just because of how good our car was,” Hocevar explained. “I would have, I mean it’s just probably going to eat me up watching the 11 come into my rearview, drive by me, and drive away, and then have a car in between us. I really would have liked to at least see if I could stay with him in the draft and everything, but um, yeah his stuff was so fast.
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“The only way I would have been able to obviously beat him, was if I could have cleared the 7, put a car in-between us, and you know Daniel’s obviously really hard to pass, and hope he was able to hold Denny up and I was able to squirt away.”
Will Carson Hocevar heed the warning? Or will he keep doing what he’s always done and take his car, and everyone else, to and over the limit?
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Jun 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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