Carson Hocevar has found himself in the middle of controversy again. After the NASCAR prodigy was involved in a series of on-track altercations last month at the Truck Series championship race with Corey Heim, a similar incident unfolded recently. The 20-year-old was involved in a heated on-track exchange with Dirt Model racer Jason Feger in the Gateway Dirt Nationals at the Dome on Thursday. And the video that surfaced was enough for fans to call out Feger for his supposedly unsavory actions!
Footage from the race showed that the tussle between the two reached a point where Feger almost ran over Carson Hocevar’s car. The new Spire Motorsports driver initiated the sequence when he tried to create an opening through a small nudge on Feger. However, Jason Feger didn’t take to it kindly as he indulged in a retaliatory action!
Carson Hocevar describes the build-up to battle with Jason Feger at The Dome
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2023 has been fairly rewarding for Jason Feger. Feger has won sixteen featured races in DIRTcar and has started in 66 races this year, the highest in the country. Half of his wins were in the MARS Late Model Championship, which Feger eventually won.
Coming into the Gateway Dirt Nationals, Carson Hocevar and Feger were both in fine form. Feger had qualified second in Group B behind Freddie Carpenter with a time of 13.010 seconds, while Hocevar qualified 11th with 13.385 seconds. However, as Hocevar managed to bridge the gap, he got entangled with Feger that ultimately led to retaliation from the opponent. Speaking about what went down between the two, Hocevar shared his side of the story.
“Well, at first, I wasn’t really sure. I’m still new to all this. I knew the bottom was really cleaned off. I felt I could kind of poke his left rear,” stated Hocevar. “I don’t know if that’s wrong. So I apologize to them if I did something wrong.”
Following Hocevar’s bump, Feger didn’t want to let the nudge pass and retaliated almost immediately. In his attempt to do so, he almost landed the dirt car over Hocevar as the youngster hit the brakes on the turn. Criticizing the violent attempt at hitting back, Hocevar said,
“The retaliation after is a little much. Just the fact that he landed at my helmet. It was really high. If I had my hand out, that almost takes your hand off, right? That’s a bit much. Maybe next time go for my back, not my head. But no, I looked at the replay, and I was probably a little further than I wanted to be. At the same time, all I cared was about running second or third. “
🎤 @CarsonHocevar and @jasonfeger25 share their sides of the story after contact and retaliation at The Dome.@Castrol | @GatewayDirt pic.twitter.com/l20m7n3TFz
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) December 15, 2023
Dirt-track racing often witnesses such fights between drivers, and sometimes things can get very ugly. Had Feger’s clap-back at Carson Hocevar been slightly worse, it could’ve been a fatal wreck for the budding youngster. As the conversation continued, Hocevar attributed the crash to the absence of spotters in the race.
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Hocevar believes having spotters could have avoided the wreck
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Carson Hocevar has learned a lot from his encounter with Corey Heim in the Truck Series finale earlier this year. The incident brought criticism upon him from fellow drivers and fans alike. Since then, he has tried to make his approach more subtle and tried to race hard without crossing limits.
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“I see a lot of guys poke their left rear. I tried to poke my left rear, just kind of to the bottom, where it was clean. Hit the inside wall and checked up as quickly as I could, but then his left rear was flat right away.” revealed Hocevar.
Race authorities viewed the incident as a normal occurrence and according to Hocevar, they clarified the situation as nothing to address. One aspect that he felt could’ve prevented this incident was the spotters’ presence. A spotter for either of the drivers could have helped them understand their cars’ position and warned them against an impending wreck.
“A couple of officials came over and said they didn’t see anything but I don’t know, it’s still part to blame right? There’s two parties. I could have got a little bit of room, but there’s no spotters either, so he doesn’t know I’m there, right? So, just kind of a tough deal.”
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With his debut full-time season in the Cup Series approaching with every passing second, such experiences are sure to add to his knowledge bank of what to do and what not to do!
Read More: “It Cost Them Money” – Denny Hamlin Exposes NASCAR’s Greed as His Idea to Increase Viewership Was Shot Down