Another race, and yet another Carson Hocevar incident. Only this time, it was a big one, forcing Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano to retire early at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Having built a notorious reputation because of his driving style, Carson Hocevar was recently fined $50,000, while NASCAR also docked 25 points from his tally after causing Harrison Burton to spin under caution at the Ally 400. It seems like he hasn’t learned his lesson.

Speaking to Frontstretch after the race, Ryan Blaney, who was also involved in the contact started by Hocevar, had some strong words to say about the serial wrecker.

Carson Hocevar causes a multi-car wreck once again

It all began on Lap 109 when cars were getting ready to head into Turn 1, going two wide across the track. Carson Hocevar, despite the absence of space, attempted to make it three wide, which forced him to make contact with the left rear of Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford, setting off a series of events.

As a result, the Team Penske driver went on to clip the right corner of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 84 Toyota Camry, which went on to make contact with Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford Mustang. Both Logano and Johnson crashed into the outside wall and sustained heavy damage, ending their race.

Even though Ryan Blaney left the incident relatively unscathed, the reigning NASCAR champion spoke about the incident with Frontstretch’s Stephen Stumpf. When asked about what was going through his mind during the incident, Blaney replied, “Well, I have to see the replay. I saw a little bit of it but 77s on the bottom, he just tried to jam it in the middle lane from the bottom, so he just shoved me in the left rear getting in the corner. There’s no room.”

Further giving Hocevar credit for the Brickyard 400 weekend, Blaney added, “But like I said, it doesn’t surprise me with that guy, he does dumb sh** all the time, and he wrecked a ton of cars and he got away with it. There’s just no room here and when I see the replay, I’m going to know that he did something even more foolish than the little bit I saw.”

Labeled a “repeat offender” by Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar seems to have embraced his ‘Rowdy’ reputation, with no fear of possible repercussions. Last year, he spun Cory Heim, who in turn got a penalty for retaliation, instead of Hocevar. There was another incident with Taylor Grey at Martinsville in the Truck Series, which forced Hocevar to stay back in the pit lane for two laps. He has sent Nick Leitz spinning into the wall at Richmond, right-hooked Colby Howard at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2022, and spun Ty Gibbs into the outside wall at Martinsville in 2023. Incident after incident, even penalties and docked pints to his name, but who knows, there’ll be another wreck or spin in Richmond?

With just two top-ten results in 22 races, it’s not like Carson Hocevar’s driving style is getting him the results he needs. As things stand, the Spire Motorsports rookie is ranked 24th in the driver standings, having led just three laps all season, and is 366 points behind leader Kyle Larson. Even his “rookie of the year” award seems to be slipping away. As for Ryan Blaney, the Team Penske driver went on to finish third at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a result that he wasn’t particularly happy with.

Ryan Blaney left frustrated with the Indianapolis result

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Stakes were high for Team Penske when NASCAR returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a three-year break. Roger Penske, who is the proprietor of Brickyard, was hoping for a victory at the iconic 2.5-mile oval, and Ryan Blaney came so close to making it happen.

Attempting to close the gap to Brad Keselowski, who was running on fumes, his fortunes changed for the worse when Kyle Busch wrecked with just a few laps remaining. The incident meant that Keselowski coasted into the pit road while Kyle Larson moved to the inside of the front row, overtaking Blaney’s No. 12 Ford on the restart and securing the victory.

A visibly frustrated Ryan Blaney said after the race, “I’m pissed. I told my guys that I’m ticked off, but I don’t know who to be ticked off at. There’s no one to be ticked off at, it’s just racing luck. The break that (Larson) got and the hardship that we got right there with that happening at that time just killed our race. We put ourselves in the perfect spot to win and just that weird circumstance benefited him and killed our race; any chance for us to win. That’s what I’m upset about. I’m not mad at anybody. It’s just lady luck that I’m pissed off at. It just sucks.”

To make matters worse for Ryan Blaney, he lost his runner-up position to Tyler Reddick after the restart, when the Team Penske driver was positioned on the outside of the front row once again. Blaney was overtaken in Turn 2, finishing Brickyard 400 in third place, his highest-ever finish on the track in seven appearances at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The result meant that Blaney is now 5th in the driver standings, and Team Penske seems to have hit their stride, with four consecutive top-ten results for the first time this season. Do you think Ryan Blaney can retain his Cup championship in 2024? Let us know in the comments!