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09/19 23:54 CDT Joey Logano wins NASCAR race at Bristol as Carson Hocevar, Ryan
Blaney fight afterward
Joey Logano wins NASCAR race at Bristol as Carson Hocevar, Ryan Blaney fight
afterward
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) --- Joey Logano won the Cup Series race Saturday at Bristol
Motor Speedway, while the driver he passed for the win stole the show with
old-school NASCAR feuding and fisticuffs.
Carson Hocevar, a brash 23-year-old who has earned the ire of veteranswith his
aggressive driving, traded punches in the pits with Ryan Blaney after they were
involved in an incident while racing for second with 41 laps left.
Hocevar stopped his car after finishing third and was greeted by a shove from
Blaney.
The 6-foot-4 Hocevar, who stands several inches taller than Blaney, responded
with two overhand rights. The first knocked off Blaney's hat, and the second
connected with Blaney's left cheek.
Blaney fell to the pavement and then scrambled to his feet and out of a crew
member's hold while Hocevar raised his arms and pointed at him. Blaney charged
and threw a wild left that knocked off Hocevar's hat. They then were separated
by team members as Blaney continued to yell at Hocevar.
"There wasn't a whole lot of talking," Hocevar said. "He just kind of said one
thing and then went after me, and I wasn't going to take it. I got ran into a
lot for the win. That was for second, and he wants to come fight. They got an
old-school Bristol show here."
The contact between the drivers started shortly after Blaney took second with
an outside pass of Hocevar, who immediately slid his No. 77 Chevrolet down the
track. Blaney moved low to block, and Hocevar stayed in the accelerator to
knock the No. 12 Ford into a spin that ended in the inside wall.
"I don't know what I did wrong there," Hocevar said. "I crossed him over and
looked like he spun himself, and then he wants to instigate a fight. I was
going to finish that, and it seemed like the crowd was pretty pumped up, so I
was going to play the audience for a second."
Blaney, who led a race-high 202 laps despite starting 29th, was already
frustrated after falling into heavy traffic because of a penalty for a pit lane
violation with just over 100 laps remaining. His rally was cut short by the
crash that dropped him to sixth in the Chase standings with his second
consecutive finish outside the top 30.
In an interview during the race, Blaney said, "I tried to protect the bottom,
he crossed and never lifted, and I got crashed."
When asked which driver was at fault, Blaney said, "I don't (expletive) know.
Each person is going to say they did nothing wrong."
Kyle Larson finished second to move into the Chase lead by a point over Denny
Hamlin. Christopher Bell was fourth, followed by Ty Gibbs, who led 120 laps
before finishing fifth.
Gibbs and Hocevar exchanged the lead four times in the final 100 laps. Their
battle for first after a restart with nine laps remaining opened the door for
Logano, who zipped past Hocevar and led the final seven laps.
With his 40th career victory and third this season, Logano became the
winningest NASCAR driver for Team Penske and moved into third place in the
Chase points standings.
But he realized all of those accomplishments would be eclipsed by videos of the
Blaney-Hocevar fight that he still had yet to see.
"I'm sure I'll see it all week long," Logano said, pausing to add with a laugh.
"They'll probably forget who won the race."
Remembering Kyle Busch Gibbs was driving a No. 54 Toyota that sported a paint scheme honoring the late Kyle Busch, who had a record 23 wins in NASCAR national series at Bristol. It was among multiple tributes to the Richard Childress Racing driver who died in May. Fans waved yellow towels on the 18th lap in honor of Busch, who won two Cup Series championships in the No. 18 Toyota. His widow, Samantha, addressed the crowd before the race. "Bristol was always so special to Kyle," Samantha Busch said. "He loved racing under the lights, the energy of this place, and most of all, the fans. For 20 years, this sport was our life. It's where we raised our babies and made some of our very best memories. I never imagined we'd be standing here without him. But looking out at all of you reminds me that we aren't walking this alone." Legal battle continues In its federal lawsuit that accuses Spire Motorsports of cheating by using stolen intellectual property, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a motion Thursday claiming that Spire and chief motorsports officer Chris Gabehart violated a temporary restraining order and should be held in contempt. A federal judge ruled in March that Gabehart can work for Spire but not in the competition director role he was in while with Joe Gibbs Racing last season. Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson responded to the motion in a statement Friday night. "JGR does not get to control what other race teams do through court cases," Dickerson said. "JGR does not own tire pressures, JGR does not own the people who work in this industry, and JGR does not own Spire. Spire looks forward to responding to JGR's motion in court. To be clear, months of discovery have shown that Spire Motorsports has done nothing wrong." Up next The NASCAR Cup Series will begin a stretch of three consecutive races on 1.5-mile ovals with Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 27. Tyler Reddick won the April 19 race at the track in Kansas City, Kansas. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing |
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