NASCAR star Carson Hocevar suspended by team for Martinsville incident

Spire Motorsports has parked Carson Hocevar.

The team announced on Tuesday, Nov. 3 that it has suspended the 23-year-old star driver for the season finale of the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hocevar, appropriately nicknamed “the Hurricane” by USA Sports broadcaster Leigh Diffey, has been involved in countless wrecks and incidents this season and has had a cavalier attitude about nearly all of them.

The latest came this past weekend at Martinsville, where Hocevar seemed to deliberately brake-check Austin Cindric multiple times, eventually destroying the front end of Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford and forcing him to retire from the race.

“The way Carson conducted himself at Martinsville doesn’t meet the standard we set for our drivers, team members or employees, and there are consequences for that. That doesn’t mean we don’t love him and support him,” Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson said in a statement. “Racing at the Cup level is a privilege, and it comes with an expected level of professionalism from everyone who represents Spire Motorsports.”

During the incident, Hocevar’s spotter, Tyler Green, pleaded with him to stop fooling around with Cindric, saying: “Hey, just go, please. Just go. Focus on driving to the 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.).”

Cindric declined to comment on the incident after he exited the infield care center on Sunday, but said over his radio: “NASCAR, what are we doing? Like, we’re just weaponizing cars here. I stack on entry with the guy and he has a mental breakdown.”

Hocevar, as expected, played it coy when asked about the incident.

“It’s just Martinsville,” Hocevar said on pit road Sunday. “Everybody’s running hard and making moves and stuff. So, yeah, I don’t know, I mean, it’s just Martinsville. Sometimes you’re getting hit, sometimes you’re causing it, vice versa, so I don’t know. I had fun.”

Despite what Hocevar said, the data — as broken down by broadcasters Steve Letarte and Jamie McMurray — is clear: Hocevar brake-checked Cindric multiple times, which eventually destroyed the No. 2 Ford.

What does the data say?@SteveLetarte and @jamiemcmurray break down the contact between @CarsonHocevar and @AustinCindric. pic.twitter.com/xKiHnNhM2K

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 2, 2026

Instead of waiting for NASCAR to hand out any discipline, Spire took matters into its own hands and parked Hocevar for the season finale. Justin Haley — a driver for Kaulig Racing in the Truck Series — will drive the No. 77 Chevrolet this weekend at Homestead.

“A decision like this has a lot of variables and a cascading effect across an organization like ours. The easy thing would have been to leave this in NASCAR’s hands and let them decide what any penalty should be,” Dickerson said. “To us, however, this isn’t about money or points. We believe in respect. Our integrity matters. This is the right decision for Spire Motorsports.

“Everyone here loves working with Carson, and we’ve enjoyed watching him thrive alongside our team. Sometimes the right decision for someone you care about hurts in the short term.”

Hocevar released his own statement with an apologetic tone.

“This is an embarrassing day for me. I let the people down that gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to drive a Cup car. I also let down my team, sponsors and fans,” Hocevar said. “I crossed the line with my on-track actions and gave Jeff and Spire Motorsports no option but to put someone else in the 77 car this weekend at Homestead. I’ll be rooting for the entire organization this weekend and look forward to coming back in 2027 as a better driver, competitor and teammate.”

Carson Hocevar has a pattern of on-track incidents

Hocevar is one of NASCAR’s fastest rising stars. He won his first Cup Series race this season at Talladega and was one of the 16 drivers to make the postseason Chase. He is currently 12th in the point standings.

But Hocevar seems to be turning into a wheelman that fans love and other drivers hate. The native of Portage, Michigan, hasn’t made many allies in the garage. Instead, his reckless, aggressive and unapologetic driving style has ruffled feathers and has garnered him a handful of enemies.

At times, drivers have been willing to dish hard racing back in Hocevar’s direction. Zane Smith intentionally wrecked him at Chicagoland. Smith has refused to walk back his disdain for Hocevar, calling him a “coward,” “bum” and “goon” leading up to the July race at Atlanta where both drivers were called to the NASCAR hauler. In October at Phoenix, Smith slammed into the back of Hocevar during the cooldown lap and was later fined $50,000 by NASCAR for doing so.

Corey Heim spun Hocevar out at Naval Base Coronado and said that he’s always going to have a “grudge” against Hocevar for a past incident in the Truck Series. At the Brickyard 400, Hocevar flipped Heim the middle finger as he was pulling onto pit road.

Hocevar was also pulled aside by Bubba Wallace earlier this season after he caused a chain-reaction that led to a multi-car crash at Michigan. After he spun out Brad Keselowski at the Southern 500 in August, Keselowski warned Hocevar after the race saying, “His day is coming and it’s coming hard. Watch out, Carson.”

On track incidents with Hocevar finally spilled off track in September at Bristol. With 43 laps to go, Hocevar crossed behind Ryan Blaney and got inside the left rear quarter panel of his No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Heading into the turn, neither driver lifted, Hocevar made contact and spun Blaney out, sending him into the wall and ending his night – and probably ending Blaney’s chances of winning a second Cup Series championship.

Blaney walked up to Hocevar outside of his No. 77 Chevrolet on pit road, grabbed him and started yelling. Hocevar was quick to react, punching Blaney twice in the face before the two were separated. The kerfuffle wasn’t over though as Blaney broke free, charged back through the crowd and landed a punch on Hocevar before they were broken apart for good. Neither driver was fined by NASCAR for the incident.

While drivers may not like Hocevar’s hard-charging, no regrets attitude, it has endeared him amongst a sizable portion of fans.

He has nearly 1 million followers on social media and his merchandise hauler is consistently the most crowded every race weekend. Along with Denny Hamlin, Hocevar was one of just two NASCAR drivers named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports this year. He was also the only NASCAR driver at the Met Gala.

And although Spire has benefitted from Hocevar’s stardom and what fans love about him, the organization has decided that enough is enough, sending a clear message to him about wrecking other drivers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASCAR star Carson Hocevar suspended by team for Martinsville incident