Days after Brad Keselowski called Carson Hocevar out, vowing payback after an on-track run-in between the two drivers, Hocevar elaborated Wednesday on what transpired during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race and declined to offer what he said would be an “artificial” apology.
“S— happens sometimes when you’re racing hard,” Hocevar said three days after he caused Keselowski to crash during the first stage of the Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C., following several laps of hard racing before the contact. “I think Brad knew how aggressive he was being, racing super hard, obviously, trying to keep us behind him. I was racing really hard, trying to be aggressive, just trying to hurt his momentum a lot. And we just got racing really hard.
“I feel like you put yourself in that spot that it’s going to open up after 10 or 15 laps of — not patience running out because it just sounds like I was just just trying to turn them after 15 laps and be like, ‘Alright, I’m done with you.’ But it’s more so when you’re just racing really, really tight within an inch of each other for 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 laps, it just starts to add to the intensity of it and running really hard, and sometimes you just hit.”
“He spun.” @CarsonHocevar was asked about the contact with @keselowski. pic.twitter.com/fZ2ThUeAso
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 7, 2026
Hocevar’s openness was in contrast to Sunday night, when after the race he offered little explanation for the run-in with Keselowski, the latest of several drivers to take exception with his aggressiveness.
While Hocevar may have been apathetic Sunday about the incident, Keselowski certainly wasn’t. Fuming over the wreck that derailed his race, he told “Above The Yellow Line Media” that Hocevar’s “day is coming and it’s coming hard. Watch out, Carson.”
Keselowski finished 23rd, Hocevar 11th.
It is common for an aggrieved driver to swear revenge after a race, so time will tell whether Keselowski follows through. In most situations like this one, a common strategic tactic employed by the offending driver to defuse the tension is to offer an apology for their actions, even if they don’t necessarily mean it.
But there has been no apology from Hocevar, genuine or otherwise. Nor, he says, will there be one coming.
“For me, it would annoy me more if the roles reversed, just like, ‘Sorry,’ and you keep hearing that all the time,” Hocevar said Wednesday. “That would kind of rub me wrong because you know it’s artificial. Man, we’re just racing really hard, there’s possibilities for mistakes. Like there’s possibilities for just barely getting into somebody and just barely tapping them. Both sides. We race really hard.
Carson Hocevar (No. 77) made contact with Brad Keselowski in Sunday’s race after some hard racing, sending Keselowski crashing out. (Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)
“And I just know that I never like the whole getting called on Monday and apologizing and everything. It’s like, ‘OK, well, yeah, you’re strategically probably making this call anyway,’ and I just don’t really care to hear it.’ You just race really hard, and I don’t think anybody tries to ever hit anybody. So, I think it just goes without saying. … I just think it’s extra fluff and that line of, ‘I didn’t mean to hit you’ kind of goes without saying it, in my mind.”
Sunday’s run-in with Keselowski is one of several the 23-year-old Hocevar has had in the three seasons raced in Cup. These frequent incidents, along with Hocevar’s perceived lack of remorse, has earned him repeated admonishment from veteran drivers.
Among those frustrated with Hocevar is Denny Hamlin, who on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast this week attempted to quickly move past the conversation around the incident.
“You’re not going to get anything more from me,” Hamlin said. “I’m not going to give (Hocevar) what he wants. I’m not going to give him the clip that he wants. Period.”
Instead, Hamlin pivoted to Hocevar’s team, Spire Motorsports, questioning why the team hasn’t tried to tame Hocevar’s aggressiveness.
“You want me to talk about Spire? I’ll talk about Spire,” Hamlin said. “There’s no adults in that room, clearly. In that building. No adults. That’s my opinion. Because how can you honestly think that’s what’s best for your company? If you’re running a serious organization? I think they’re unserious. Anything else?
“But I’m not talking about him anymore. I’m not going to give him what he wants. I’ll talk about Spire if you want to talk about Spire.”
Hocevar defended his team Wednesday, taking pride in the fact that Spire placed drivers in the Chase playoffs for the first time (Hocevar’s teammate, Daniel Suárez, also made it) and has done so despite being a relatively new group compared to a handful of well-established organizations that also qualified.
So when Hocevar hears blowback from Hamlin and others, their opinion means little compared to that of Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson and others within the Spire organization. And as long as they’re OK with his actions, he sees no reason to change.
“I just care what Jeff, the sponsors, and my team says,” Hocevar said. “Whether their opinion changes because of what Brad or Denny or any of these guys think, that’s all relevant. That’s all included. So then I do care. But I think, ultimately, racing is a family sport, and this is a family, right, and I just care what my family thinks.”
