"SMT shows different picture completely" - Carson Hocevar comments on $50,000 penalty for Nashville incident with Harrison Burton

Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar, piloting the #77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points after making contact under caution with the #21 of Harrison Burton during the Ally 400 in Nashville.

Brad Keselowski spun off and made contact with the track wall in lap 244 at the Ally 400, which brought out the yellow flag, causing the field to slow down. Hocevar was seen bumping into the right rear of Burton, which led to the #21Ford spinning off into the wall. Hocevar was not handed out a penalty at that point, but on Tuesday NASCAR announced that Hocevar would be fined $50,000, and would have 25 points deducted from his driver standings.

In a recent interview with Bob Pockrass, Carson Hocevar shared his thoughts on the incident and NASCAR's decision to penalize him. He said:

"I respect their decision, doesnt matter if I agree or disagree. If you see the SMT, I think you'll understand. I think that shows a different picture completely of the whole situation, but there's no point for me to release that or do anything. It is what it is and I'll move on." [00:16]

"My team is very supportive of me, and they have reassured me of that. Thats really what matters to me." he added [00:30]

This penalty comes 15 months after Hocevar was held back for two laps by NASCAR in a Truck Series race at Martinsville, for trying to hook a fellow driver. As per NASCAR, Hocevar violated section 4.4B of the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct, which deals with behavioral incidents on the track.

Carson Hocevar's team did not contest NASCAR's decision regarding the Nashville incident and is focused on the Grant Park 165 in Chicago on Sunday. The penalty has brought Hocevar down to P24 from P22 in the Cup Series standings. He is currently 181 points behind the playoff cut-line, with 7 races left in the regular season.

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"I went up to bump him like you've seen a thousand times"- Carson Hocevar sheds light on his intentions with Harrison Burton

The incident at Nashville is not the first time that Carson Hocevar has been a part of an on-track controversy. The Michigan native has been in the spotlight across different series several times in the past few seasons.

Hocevar was asked about his intentions concerning the incident with Harrison Burton in the interview, as seen above. He responded:

"My intentions were not by any means to tap him around, I went up to bump him like you've seen a thousand times, he wanted to use 1000 pounds of brake pressure in front of me, obviously, it happened from that...Moving forward, I just won’t initiate anything like that. If anything, I’ll talk to him after the race or I’ll go up next to him and throw my hand in the air, rather than use the racecar.” [00:47]

In an interview with Frontstretch, Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney criticized Hiocevar's actions at the Ally 400 and agreed with NASCAR's decision to penalize him.