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09/25 16:23 CDT NASCAR star Blaney has moved on from his fight with Hocevar,
even if his black eye is still there
NASCAR star Blaney has moved on from his fight with Hocevar, even if his black
eye is still there
By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) --- Ryan Blaney was still sporting a shiner under his
left eye when he arrived at Kansas Speedway on Friday.
"I wish it had healed a little quicker," he admitted, "but it did not."
The tension between Blaney and Carson Hocevar, who delivered the haymaker that
left Blaney with the black eye last weekend, has apparently eased a little bit
quicker. Blaney called the on-track incident that led to a pit-road fracas
"just a racing" thing, upon further reflection, the kind of stuff that happens
at a fender-to-fender track like Bristol Motor Speedway.
"It's kind of the opposite of how I normally am. I get fired up quickly but I
calm down really quickly," Blaney explained. "These things happen. The
on-track, it happens really, really fast. You're making decisions in a
split-second of a moment, and sometimes you can be skewed or not skewed on what
you think happened, and then you know, watching the incident, pretty 50-50, I
thought."
The incident last Saturday night unfolded 41 laps before Joey Logano captured
the checkered flag.
Blaney had just taken second with a pass around the outside of Hocevar, who
countered by steering his No. 77 Chevrolet down the track. Blaney moved to
block him, Hocevar stayed on the gas, and the result sent the No. 12 Ford
spinning into the wall.
It was a big blow to Blaney, who had led a race-high 202 laps, and his hopes of
winning a second Cup Series championship.
"It's just kind of built," said Blaney, who now trails Kyle Larson by 52 points
in the Chase for the championship. "A couple of rough finishes back-to-back and
you realize, man, this is not going the way I thought it was going to go."
Hocevar ended up third behind Logano and Larson last weekend.
But as he brought his car to a stop along pit road, Blaney was there waiting,
and despite standing several inches shorter than the 6-foot-4 Hocevar, went
right after him with a shove. Hocevar responded with two overhand rights, the
first knocking Blaney's hat off and the second connecting with his cheek,
sending one of NASCAR's most popular drivers to the ground.
Blaney scrambled to his feet and threw a left hook that clipped Hocevar's own
hat before team members could intervene.
"We've been cool and stuff. I think Ryan is one of the coolest guys in the
garage," Hocevar said. "I didn't want to hit him, and looking back, I 100
percent see where he wanted to just throw a shove in there and yell. But in the
moment you're not going to see that."
Hocevar said he had no regrets over what transpired on pit road.
"I don't think so. My dad is probably the least controversial person I ever met
in my life. He's got a local business so he freaks out if he gets a bad Google
review. I texted him and was like, ?Sorry about that.' He was proud that I
defended myself," Hocevar said. "If we were racing anywhere lower than second,
I think, you know, I maybe look at it differently, but I think Blaney does,
too."
With a brazen driving style, the 23-year-old Hocevar has made plenty of enemies
--- and, yes, quite a few fans --- during his third full Cup Series season. It
was just a few weeks ago he spun out Brad Keselowski during the Southern 500,
leaving the frustrated former champion to declare: "His day is coming, and it's
coming hard. Watch out, Carson."
Turned out his day came at Bristol, only it was Blaney --- not Keselowski ---
trying to deliver the punishment.
NASCAR seems to be leaning into the brewing feuds, too. Promotional posters for
the race at World Wide Technology Raceway, which came on the heels of the
Darlington dust-up, declared: "A Rivalry Worth Watching: Hurricane Hocevar vs.
Bad Brad Keselowski."
So it wasn't entirely surprising that NASCAR chose not to punish Blaney or
Hocevar this week.
"We're not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is
passion," NASCAR chief executive Steve O'Donnell said during an appearance on
Kevin Harvick's podcast Monday. "Blaney's showing his passion, showing his
fire."
Blaney called it the right decision by NASCAR, and not just because it kept the
series from digging into his pocketbook.
"I would fully understand getting slapped with a penalty if I went over and
initiated a punch or something," Blaney said. "I initiated a confrontation,
Carson defended himself. I'm glad they didn't do anything. They just let it
simmer. I thought it was the right call."
___
See AP's full auto racing coverage here
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