The latest chapter of a simmering feud between Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim added another chapter on Sunday during the Brickyard 400.
On Lap 91, Heim came down pit road ahead of Hocevar, and the Spire Motorsports driver leaned all the way down to the apron side-by-side with his rival with a middle finger out the door. Heim had let team owner Denny Hamlin go by just moments before but did not extend such a courtesy to Hocevar.
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After the race, Hocevar said he simply was offering a prediction that Heim would win the race.
“I’m just a fan, wanted to wave. He’s number one. He won,” Hocevar said. “It’s fine. We don’t like each other, but we race really hard and his stuff’s super-fast, obviously. Yeah, the car he’s in, but he does a really, really good job with it. I’m looking forward to, when we get our stuff a little better, being in front of him, and maybe holding him off.”
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Heim went on to win the race, and wasn’t even aware of the gesture until the TNT Sports booth showed him on the post-race show, resulting in an equally quirky rebuttal.
“I handed him a big fat L,” Heim said.
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The rivalry dates back to their time in the Truck Series, where Hocevar cost Heim a championship in 2023. Hocevar spun Heim, who then retaliated, which caused a caution that denied Grant Enfinger that same championship. Ben Rhodes went on to win his second championship that night.
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Heim hasn’t moved on from the transgression and he wasn’t going to let Hocevar go by on Sunday the way he let Hamlin by.
“I was blocking him, not really too bad, I thought,” Heim said after the race. “I mean, I was trying to just hold my position, and I never threw like a bad block. I was just trying to protect my entry, and he didn’t like it, but he lost and I won, so I don’t really care.”
Hocevar recognized the game.
“We’re both good at manipulating air, so a lot of times, we’re just pissing each other off,” Hocevar said. “I mean, clearly for him, he won, so he don’t care. But for me today, I’m like, damn it. It just makes it more difficult than some of the other guys in the field you can take advantage of. So it’s just like, damn! I wish they were still holding him out and running him part-time because that’s eventually a car I’ll have to race.”
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Ultimately, Heim was dismissive of the questions during his post-race press conference.
“Where did he finish today?”
The media in unison: ‘Ninth.’
“Huh. You guys love talking about a guy who finished ninth. I mean, holy crap,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, all I did was make sure he stayed behind me, and I did, and I finished in front of him. I don’t worry about a narrative or a genre. Like, he’s got a ton of talent, and he’s going to win a lot of races, and I’m focused on myself and trying to do the same. That’s really all there is to it.”
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