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Ryan Blaney on fight with Carson Hocevar: ‘I got my (butt) kicked’

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Bristol Motor Speedway has seen many memorable moments and frustrated NASCAR drivers losing their cool over the years, from Ward Burton tossing equipment at Dale Earnhardt Jr., to Jeff Gordon shoving Matt Kenseth, to Kevin Harvick slamming his helmet after a shouting match with Chase Elliott.

The latest chapter in the history of noteworthy NASCAR fights came on Saturday night at Bristol in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the third race in the postseason Chase. With 43 laps to go, Carson Hocevar crossed behind Ryan Blaney and got inside of his left rear quarter panel. Heading down into the turn, neither driver lifted, Hocevar made contact and spun Blaney out, sending him into the wall and ending his night.

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After the race, more fireworks ensued on pit road. Blaney walked up to Hocevar outside of his No. 77 Chevrolet, grabbed him and started yelling. Hocevar was quick to react, punching Blaney twice before the two were separated. The kerfuffle wasn’t over though as Blaney broke free, charged back through the crowd and landed a punch on Hocevar before they were broken apart for good.

It was old-school Bristol and classic short-track racing: beating and banging on the speedway and tempers flaring off it.

On Monday, after reflecting on the incident for a day, Blaney went on fellow racer Denny Hamlin’s podcast — “Actions Detrimental” from Dirty Mo Media — to talk about what happened.

Blaney was blunt in his overall assessment of how things went down: “I’ll be honest, I went over there and I got my ass kicked, for sure. I ate a two piece, and got tagged pretty good. I just wanted to show my displeasure.”

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Ryan Blaney trades punches with Carson Hocevar after Bristol finish

There was a brawl at Bristol.The motorsport venue, known as the Last Great Colosseum, always offers excitement on the track, but the NASCAR Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, Sept. 19 made noise off of it too when there was a fight between Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar. See the sequence of images…

(Chris Graythen, Getty Images)

While he’s been known to swear like a sailor on the radio, Blaney is a driver who rarely loses his cool after a race. He told Hamlin he wasn’t sure what was going to happen when he reached Hocevar, but he wanted to let the Spire Motorsports driver know that he wasn’t happy.

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“I didn’t have a huge plan. Really, the only plan of mine was, you know, ‘I’m going to have a stern conversation with Carson.’ I wasn’t planning on throwing anything. I just really wanted to grab him and pretty much yell at him, you know, and show my displeasure,” Blaney said. “And granted, I kind of grabbed him pretty aggressively — that, you’re probably going to defend yourself, you know? And he rightfully did.”

Indeed, with Blaney holding on to a chunk of his firesuit, the 6-foot-4 Hocevar drew back and caught Blaney on the side of his head with a right hook.

“He landed a pretty good right hand. It got me pretty good and the hat just kind of flung off my head. And so, when that happened I’m like, ‘I should probably return fire at this point.’ … And I see the second one coming and I’m kind of immobilized,” Blaney said. “And in my mind, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m just going to eat this thing and continue to yell at him and stare at him while I just eat this other right.’ And I’ll give it to him — he tagged me in the same exact spot that he got me the first time.”

After being punched twice by Hocevar, Blaney and a few others went tumbling onto the ground. Blaney got up and was still shouting at Hocevar, then managed to get loose from the people holding him back and charged towards Hocevar’s car again.

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“And so I got back up — which was the funniest part of this thing — and everyone forgot about me,” Blaney said. “I was like, ‘I got to get back in.’ … I got back in there and kind of tackled this one guy into Carson and tried to jab a left and kind of missed. And then, really, it was over.”

After going through the play-by-play of the brawl with Hamlin, Blaney lamented some of his decision making in the heat of the moment.

“There are things that I regret. I try to set a good example for kids who are watching who are fans, their parents who are allowing these kids to watch races and root for their driver, and I try to act a certain way to what a kid would want to look up to,” Blaney said. “And I look back on those things and I definitely regret the way I acted. You know, that’s really unlike me, but I was just frustrated and you just do these things.

“Man, I just wish I wouldn’t have done that. I wish I had gone about it in a different way for people watching. I don’t ever want to set a bad example.”

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Heading into the fourth of 10 races in the Chase this Sunday at Kansas Motor Speedway, Blaney is sixth in the standings and 52 points behind leader Kyle Larson, while Hocevar is eighth and 85 points back.

Following their clash after Bristol, Hocevar spoke to reporters on pit road and said he understood why Blaney was upset.

“I’d probably be mad at me, too. Whether it was his mistake, my mistake, my fault or not, I’d be pretty pissed if I was him,” Hocevar said. “I saw him coming, and he’s moving pretty fast, and then he grabbed me, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m not going to wait.’ I’ve seen enough of these. I’m going to start swinging and see what happens.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ryan Blaney on fight with Carson Hocevar: ‘I got my (butt) kicked’

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