Carson Hocevar is known for expressing his thoughts honestly. His unedited Twitch streams are must-watch content for NASCAR fans. After staying quiet about Sunday’s crash at Chicagoland, Hocevar finally responded to Zane Smith. He did it in the most Carson Hocevar way possible: with a sarcastic one-liner that immediately got everyone talking.

Carson Hocevar finally breaks his silence on Zane Smith

“What’s Zane’s problem? I don’t know man, maybe his T-shirt sales were low. I don’t know. Who cares?!”

It took a few days, but the Spire Motorsports driver finally broke his silence on the eero 400 drama. Instead of issuing a long statement or an angry rant, Hocevar just laughed it off.

The actual incident happened on Lap 32. Hocevar and Smith made contact while fighting near 17th place entering Turn 2. In response, Smith appeared to intentionally spin Hocevar out. But the move backfired. Smith wrecked his own car in the process, halting both drivers’ promising runs. Eventually, Hocevar finished the race in 22nd place, whereas Smith was placed 28th.

Many in the NASCAR world quickly saw the action as revenge for an incident from last year, even though Smith has not admitted it. Hocevar’s first response actually came before his Twitch stream. Shortly after the race, he posted an Instagram story featuring a clip from 2 Fast 2 Furious.

In the scene, Roman Pearce, played by Tyrese Gibson, laughs off a potential threat by saying: “You think I’m worried about this fool, man. Haha. This is nothing.”

The message was hard to interpret as anything other than a response to Smith. And the history between the two drivers stretches back more than a year. With just over 120 laps left in the 2025 Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith were fighting for 23rd position. Smith was thrown against the outer wall as Hocevar raced side by side and drifted up the track.

“I just got loose and was wrecking myself, and then (Zane) was right there,” Hocevar said after the race back then.

But Ryan Bergenty, Smith’s crew chief, interrupted Hocevar’s interview to question him about the event. “Our car is f—–g wrecked because you drive like a f—–g r—-d.”

Now, following Sunday’s Chicagoland collision, many spectators have recalled this incident. That has led to widespread speculation that Zane Smith finally got his payback. Whether that was actually the case remains up for debate, but Carson Hocevar doesn’t appear interested in dwelling on it.

He has openly laughed it off rather than escalating the matter with irate remarks or calls for a NASCAR penalty (NASCAR has, anyway, given Smith a clean chit). Given both drivers’ aggressive racing styles and the unfinished business between them, however, few would be surprised if this rivalry isn’t finished yet.