On the podcast, Hauler Talk, NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde discussed the Sanctioning Body’s reaction to the now-viral fight between Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney.
There will be no penalties for the drivers or crew members involved in the altercation, but NASCAR does want to talk with Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
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Gibbs was standing near the fight, watching gleefully with a smile as it all unfolded. At one point, he tossed a fairly full water bottle into the center of the melee. He flew over Hocevar’s head and hit the phone camera being held by Frontstretch reporter Michael Massie, knocking it down.
Gibbs was battling Hocevar for the win on the final restart before Joey Logano passed both as they leaned on each other. And while there was a curious moment between the two on the cool-down lap, it seemed like Gibbs didn’t throw the water bottle out of malice, but just because he thought it was funny.
“I know it was kind of a heat-of-the-moment thing, and he probably thought it was just kind of a funny thing to add to the moment,” said Forde said. “He probably had some frustrations with him [Hocevar] as well. But obviously that could be dangerous if that hit someone in the wrong place. If the cap portion of that water bottle hit someone in the eye, that could be a dangerous situation. So we plan to have a conversation this weekend in Kansas with Ty Gibbs, but no penalty.”
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In fairness, to Ty, he’s not the first driver to throw a water bottle into the middle of a Bristol altercation, and was probably paying homage to an iconic incident from the ’90s. After getting spun out in the 1995 Cup race at Bristol, Rusty Wallace confronted Dale Earnhardt after the event. He famously threw a water bottle at Earnhardt, actually hitting him.
As Wallace once recounted, he was trying to get Earnhardt’s attention, and being as angry as he was, when ‘Hey Dale’ wasn’t working, he chucked a water bottle directly at him, super-charging the incident. No punches were thrown after that Bristol Night Race, but the confrontation got so much attention that even a song was made about the entire deal.
Watch: From on-track to fight, this is what happened between Blaney and Hocevar
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