Stenhouse has vowed retaliation on rival Carson Hocevar. Will NASCAR payback be delivered at Pocono?
Carson Hocevar walked around Pocono Raceway without a scratch on his face. His polo shirt looked more tailored than tattered, and the Spire Motorsports driver was ready to race rather than rumble.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hadn't socked Hocevar with a right hook quite yet – hot on the heels of Stenhouse's threat to beat up his racing rival after last weekend's race in Mexico City – leaving the next shot at any potential retaliation, inside or outside the cars, set for Sunday's NASCAR race. Hocevar should walk with his head on a swivel because Stenhouse can throw a right hook. Just ask Kyle Busch, who suffered a crushing TKO loss when he clashed with Stenhouse after last year's All-Star race. Get ready! The Pounding at Pocono could be just another round in the ongoing feud between Stenhouse and Hocevar.
'He probably will be looking over his shoulder for a long time,' Stenhouse said Saturday at Pocono. 'We'll see how that goes.' Hocevar has to look over his shoulder – and for that charging Chevrolet in his rearview mirror. 'The scorecard has it that I – I'm getting something from the 47 at some point, right? And I think my team and everybody kind of knows that,' Hocevar said.
Their beef has little chance of getting squashed any time soon, a dispute that started three races ago when Hocevar wrecked Stenhouse early at Nashville. Hocevar sent Stenhouse spinning last week in Mexico City, which ignited the postrace melee on pit road. Stenhouse seemed to grab at Hocevar as he spoke to him, then slapped at his helmet as Stenhouse walked away. Hocevar's in-car camera captured audio of the confrontation.
'I'm going to beat your (behind),' Stenhouse threatened. 'You're a lap down, you've got nothing to do. Why you run right into me? It's the second time. I'm going to beat your (behind) when we get back to the States.'
Hocevar avoided a smackdown from Stenhouse, but his Spire team hit him where it hurts – a $50,000 fine on Tuesday for derogatory comments he made about Mexico City on a livestream as NASCAR raced there last weekend. At just 23 and in his second full Cup season, Hocevar has whipped himself into a flurry of unwanted attention, continuing a trend that started last year when even veteran Denny Hamlin chimed in and said NASCAR had 'to do something to Carson.'
Stenhouse might do it on behalf of the sanctioning body with his fist or even his No. 47 Chevrolet. Hocevar conceded yes, payback may be imminent and the time to talk out their lingering issues is over. Yet Hocevar pleaded: 'It's not an open hunting season on the 77 because of these incidents.'
Hocevar stamped his own target on his back. With his aggressive racing. With his ignorant words. 'Just because I do something in the heat of the moment or maybe, you know, you do it two or three times doesn't mean I'm not hard on myself for those mistakes because they are mistakes,' he said. 'It's just trying not to make that a pattern. But when you're constantly making aggressive moves like we're doing, it's balancing that fine line of, you know, you make a thousand moves a day. Just unfortunately what people remember isn't always the good ones. You always remember the negative ones.'
Case in point: Hocevar walked back his derisive comments about Mexico after he actually experienced the culture of the country following NASCAR's foray into a new Cup Series market.
'I didn't give it a shot. I didn't give it a chance,' Hocevar said. 'I didn't go walk around. I didn't go see it. When I did, you know, then hindsight's 20/20, then I have my own opinion. But I've already put it out there.'
Spire also ordered Hocevar to attend cultural-sensitivity and bias-awareness training. He can be thankful he gets a shot at another race. Stenhouse's spotter, Tab Boyd, was fired this week by HYAK Motorsports in the wake of an unflattering social media post about his experience in Mexico.
'That's above my pay grade,' Stenhouse said. The biggest KO so far came in the standings, where Stenhouse has been flattened in just three weeks from 13th in points, in the thick of playoff contention before Nashville, to 21st entering Pocono. Hocevar is one point ahead of Stenhouse in the standings.
'That's the thing that hurts worse for our team is just where it's put us,' Stenhouse said.
Stenhouse's trash talk, more worthy of UFC hype, could put him in hot water should he actually deliver on his vowed retribution and take out Hocevar. If it comes to a point where NASCAR dishes out a monetary punishment, it's OK; the 2023 Daytona 500 champion could afford his fine. He just sold his North Carolina estate for $12.2 million, the highest-priced residential sale ever recorded in the greater Charlotte metro area.
'It's been a big week. We've had a lot going on,' Stenhouse said, laughing. He'd rather talk real estate than about the space and time wasted thinking about Hocevar.
'I'm just honestly tired of talking about the kid,' Stenhouse said.
Tired of the talk? Sure. Of the action? Not just yet.
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