Carson Hocevar and Sammy Smith collide during Snowball Derby Last Chance Qualifying

Ahead of today’s Snowball Derby, the Last Chance Qualifying session got messy as Carson Hocevar and Sammy Smith got into it on the track. The two cars collided and caused a bit of a mess during the dash for those final transfer spots. These NASCAR drivers couldn’t keep it clean.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – Carson Hocevar has done it again. Look, his season didn’t end the best. He helped cause one of the worst championship races in NASCAR history. However, this wasn’t really on him.

Hocevar gets loose, goes up a little on the track, then Smith just tries to force his car in there. When that doesn’t work, he just keeps the pedal down and drives both cars up the track and into the outside wall.

The 14 is Hocevar, 22 is Smith.

.@sammysmithSS and @CarsonHocevar wreck battling hard for the final transfer spot to the 56th Annual Snowball Derby. Watch the Last Chance Qualifier now on https://t.co/S4MfBeKHSa. pic.twitter.com/GXrt2AGvUj

— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) December 3, 2023

Neither driver made the big race. Sometimes, that’s how LCQ goes. Carson Hocevar and Sammy Smith were driving for a spot in one of the biggest races of the year, and they ended up not making it.

Hocevar is going to go Cup racing next year with Spire Motorsports. Smith will be in the JR Motorsports stable in 2024 after moving on from Joe Gibbs Racing.

Carson Hocevar has the talent, needs to clean it up

Now, this one isn’t really on Hocevar. Let’s chalk it up to racing hard on a short track. That doesn’t make it good, but it doesn’t have to be a lesson learned or a huge ordeal because two guys made contact on the track. Smith probably shouldn’t have kept driving Hocevar up the track.

However, if you were to grade Hocevar for his pros and cons – maturity on track is up there. He doesn’t always make great decisions, he puts his nose where he can’t shoot the gap and wrecks himself and others. He’s also let his emotions get the best of him.

With all of the talent and character that Hocevar has – I hope he cleans things up on the track. I hope that he earns the respect of the garage. Drivers that wreck that many cars by the age of 120, don’t usually get to keep racing.

In the case of Carson Hocevar, for now anyway, the potential outweighs the current problems. Hocevar will have a full Cup Series season to figure things out. For what it’s worth, I think we see a cautious and subdued Hocevar as he figures it out at the top level in 2024.