“Just the dangers of pit road”: NASCAR Insider absolves all culprits in scary incident at Talladega

NASCAR legend Steve Letarte dropped his opinion on the pit road incident involving Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, and Austin Cindric. He said that in his opinion, there was nobody at fault for the pit crew getting hit in the hip while Berry was attempting to pit.

Letarte is a prominent NASCAR analyst and former championship-winning crew chief. He is currently serving as a broadcaster for NBC Sports but will move on to join TNT Sports and will also serve in Amazon Prime’s five-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series. Letarte began his racing journey at just 16 when he joined Hendrick Motorsports as a mechanic and quickly rose through the ranks to crew chief for Jeff Gordon’s iconic #24 car where he achieved 10 wins. Later in his career, he joined Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 team, where he led the famous driver to his career resurgent win at the Daytona 500 in 2014. He then transitioned to broadcasting, where his in-depth knowledge of racing adds a new layer to the broadcasting for NBC.

Letarte discussed the dangers of pit roads at Talladega Superspeedway. During a stack-up involving Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar, and Josh Berry, Berry’s car hit one of Hocevar’s pit crew members on the hip while he was carrying the tire for a change. The crew member ended up on Hocevar’s hood and avoided a major accident. When reviewing the footage for NASCAR's Inside the Race, Letarte said that there was nobody at fault for the incident.

"This is just the dangers of pit road. I don't put this on Hocevar. I don't put it on Berry. I don't put it on Cindric. I actually think the majority of drivers do the best they can to avoid crew members at all costs. I'm shocked this doesn't happen more, but I think this is just the simple fact of stacking three cars in a row coming in at once."

Austin Cindric claimed the victory in a dramatic finish at the 2025 Jack Link’s 500. At Talladega Superspeedway, Cindric secured the first spot after edging out the competition by just 0.022 seconds. After the race, the rest of the field was inspected, and Ryan Preece (who originally finished second), along with Joey Logano (who finished fifth), were disqualified for violations.

The race featured 67 lead changes among 23 drivers and four cautions. Cindric led the final laps and secured his first win of the season.

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NASCAR Insider defends controversial tactic used by teams on plate races

Steve Letarte has spoken out in defense of the fuel-saving tactics increasingly used by teams during superspeedway races like Talladega. In NASCAR's Next Gen era, drivers have been running at partial throttle to stretch fuel mileage and minimize time spent on pit road, a trend that has divided fans and pundits. Letarte, however, sees this as a natural evolution of the sport, arguing that such strategies are “organic” and reflect teams’ ingenuity in finding new ways to win.

He said on NASCAR's Inside the Race:

"I think the beauty of racing is when it's organic. And what we're seeing currently at the racetrack is organic; it's the teams getting smarter, figuring out how to win the race, which is to spend the least amount of time on the pit road as possible. I don't think there's any way to unlearn. People don't want to unlearn aerodynamics, get rid of aero racing. You can't put the genie back in the box," Steve Letarte said.

He insisted that once teams discover a competitive edge, “you can’t put the genie back in the box”, and that it’s unrealistic to expect teams to unlearn these methods.