Carson Hocevar assesses blame after NASCAR penalty, fine for Harrison Burton incident in Nashville

Carson Hocevar has been in the news for all the wrong reasons following an incident with Harrison Burton at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend.

After the pair had been battling for a myriad of laps, Hocevar decided to show his frustration with Burton, right-rear-hooking him under caution in a shocking turn of events. Of course, wrecking someone under caution is a big no-no, and it’s something that multiple drivers and media members were angry about.

Additionally, Hocevar was fined $50,000 and docked 25 driver points for violating the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct, NASCAR announced Tuesday evening. The penalty dropped Hocevar from 22nd to 24th in the standings, 181 points behind the playoff cutline. Effectively, it’s now caused Hocevar to need a win to get into the playoffs, even more than before the penalty. 

Carson Hocevar said he didn't intend to turn Harrison Burton under caution last week. What he said about the $50,000 fine and 25-point penalty that NASCAR issued this week. pic.twitter.com/6INLyXyE36

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 6, 2024

Ahead of this weekend’s race in Chicago, Hocevar is trying to move past the incident, “I respect their decision,” Hocevar told FOX’s Bob Pockrass, regarding his punishment. “It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree.”

Regardless of his words, it’s evident Hocevar doesn’t particularly think he’s solely in the wrong for what transpired between him and Burton, but he knows he has his team backing him in the matter, which is what truly matters to him.

“I mean, if you see the SMT, I think you’ll understand. I think that shows a different picture, completely, of the whole situation, but I’m not going to — there’s no point for me to release that, or do anything. It is what it is. I’ll move on,” Hocevar added. “My team is very supportive of me, and I think they fully believe and are in full support. They’ve reassured me of that. That’s really what matters to me.”

Continuing, Hocevar also explained that he was intending to show his displeasure with Burton, but he never meant to wreck him under caution. From now on he’ll evidently handle on-track issues in a different manner, to avoid any future repercussions.

“I mean, my intentions were not, by any means, to tap him around. I went up to bump him, like you’ve seen a thousand times, and it happened to me a lot,” Hocevar said. “He wanted to use a thousand pounds of brake pressure in front of me, and obviously, it happened from that. But, if you get into a bar fight and what not, the guy who throws the last punch to land somebody on the ground isn’t the one who gets in trouble, it’s the one who initiated it.

“So, moving forward, I just won’t initiate anything like that, and if anything, I’ll either talk to him after the race, or I’ll go up next to him and throw my hand in the air, rather that use the race car.”

Alas, Carson Hocevar has worn the scarlet letter all week, but he’ll be looking to be in the news for a different reason moving forward — winning races, instead of getting into it with other wheelmen on the track. He has the talent, now he just needs to continue cultivating it.