Although Ryan Blaney bagged his big win of the season during the Cracker Barrel 400, Carson Hocevar is making all the headlines. The Spire Motorsports driver has finally started to contend for the wins this year, but unfortunately, it has come at the cost of his rivals. Back during the Atlanta race early in the season, he registered a career-best P2 finish, but had roughed up veterans like Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney. Although he was able to bag another runner-up place finish at Nashville, he found himself on the edge once again. Too eager to make the pass in Stage 2, he made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., sending him into the wall for his first DNF of the year.

Spire Motorsports isn’t the team that is going to get a lot of chances for bagging a win. And right now, they are making serious progress with their young driver. Following his antics, Dale Jr. warned him off the potential consequences, “The garage will kind of police a little bit, I think he might have messed with the wrong guy tonight.” How does Spire Motorsport deal with this situation? They have a young, hungry and talented race car driver, who can put himself in a position to win races. But, at the same time, if you restrain him, will they not restrict his ability to run and compete well?

Addressing the situation around their star driver, team co-owner Jeff Dickerson spoke on SiriusXM radio. “With the amount of experience he has and with the journey of our race team, Spire, I don’t want to slow him down. Well, now we’re up there. So, you know, where would I want to slow that down? There are some things I’d like him to kind of fatten. You know, maybe round out a couple of the edges.” Hocevar sits 17th in the points standings, and that runner-up finish saw him jump five positions. Had it not been the engine failure at Charlotte, he could’ve been inside the top 16 already.

As far as his racing style goes, it is likely to remain unchanged, but when it comes to subtle moments of understanding on the racetrack, Dickerson expects his driver to take a measured approach. “I don’t want him running into the 47—cut him a break and let him back in and kind of show that maturity. Why go out of your way to make an enemy that you don’t need to because, Ricky, I think Ricky’s always run them fair. And it hurt me because it’s just like, Ricky’s like a really, he’s good friend,” Dickerson added.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. isn’t the driver Hocevar would want to start a beef with. He’s known to give out payback, regardless of the stature or the influence a driver holds in the garage. Last we all saw, Stenhouse landed a right hook to Kyle Busch’s face after he was wrecked out of the All-Star race on Lap 2. He waited for the entire race, probably around 3 hours, to get even with his rival. Given that there’s a lot of racing left in the regular season, he has enough reason to run the #77 Chevy into the wall when he feels like.

The only way out of it is to have a conversation with the Hyak Motorsports driver. But if Hocevar keeps at it, the inevitable is about to happen, and Denny Hamlin believes that Stenhouse is going to get even with Hocevar on the racetrack.

Carson Hocevar has painted a target on his back after Nashville antics

Hocevar isn’t the veteran driver in the Cup Series garage, he is just running in his second full-time season. But, given how carefree he has been when it comes to racing his rivals, he is on the path to make a lot of enemies. Remember, a similar thing happened with Ross Chastain back in 2023, where he kept on wrecking Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Only after Rick Hendrick sent a warning shot aimed at the Trackhouse Racing and Chastain, he somewhat toned down his aggression.

But, it looks like Hocevar isn’t afraid of the talks, as he had an earful after the Atlanta race. And following his incident with Stenhouse Jr, Hamlin believes he’s got a payback coming soon. “Ricky Stenhouse will absolutely wreck Carson Hocevar in the near future, that’s just a fact… If you’re Carson, just know that it’s coming, so don’t be surprised… I just feel like it’s inevitable… Carson hasn’t done anything to me yet that has been egregious, but I guarantee you if he does I’m gonna get him, because he has gotten a lot of people, and they haven’t done anything about it.”

Hamlin made it clear, steer clear of his bumper, or he is going to retaliate similarly. Now the veteran JGR driver can afford a wreck or two if he gets into a battle with the #77 car. But the same cannot be said about the young gun, so he needs to have a measured approach next time he makes a split-second decision on the racetrack.