The hats and flags and T-shirts carrying the No. 77 of NASCAR driver Carson Hocevar were flying unapologetically, and almost defiantly, over Kansas Speedway last weekend, days after a pit-road fracas at Bristol in which the up-and-coming Cup Series star traded a few haymakers with popular driver Ryan Blaney.
asserted
star → carry → Blaney
The two tangled in the closing laps, the contact sending Blaney into the wall and ending his race — and maybe his title hopes.
asserted
contact → tangle → race
And when Hocevar pulled his car onto pit road after a third-place finish, his foil was standing there waiting for him.
asserted
foil → pull → him
Hocevar got the better of the dust-up, leaving Blaney with a shiner under his right eye.
asserted
Hocevar → get → eye
Thousands of fans who had stuck around to watch Joey Logano take the checkered flag seemed to roar even louder for the post-race fight.
asserted
Logano → stick → fight
“I was surprised, and so was everybody else.
asserted
everybody → surprise → ?
But luckily, I have a height advantage on Ryan, I guess,” Hocevar said later.
asserted
Hocevar → have → Ryan
“If we were in a running competition, I’m screwed.
asserted
I → screw → competition
No matter who it is, I can’t run.
asserted
I → run → ?
So luckily, standing still, I can do OK and defend myself.”
asserted
I → stand → myself
Perhaps even more surprising was what NASCAR did in the aftermath: Nothing.
asserted
NASCAR → do → aftermath
“We’re not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion,” NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said during an appearance on former driver Kevin Harvick’s podcast, before adding: “We’ll watch what happens the rest of the way.”
asserted
what → go → way
The decision was seen by many as NASCAR embracing a “Boys, have at it” attitude that had been displaced for a generation by a squeaky clean corporate image that somehow seemed out of place.
asserted
that → see → place
It harkened back to the 1979 Daytona 500, when Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers, Donnie and Bobby, got into perhaps the most famous fistfight in NASCAR history, and the days when Dale Earnhardt Sr. was using the bumper of his famed black No. 3 to drive rivals out of his way on the way to seven Cup Series championships.
asserted
. → harken → championships
Intentional or not, the Bristol fight was another example of NASCAR turning back to its roots.
asserted
NASCAR → turn → roots
“I feel like we’ve kind of gone that direction quite a bit here recently,” Logano said.
asserted
Logano → feel → ?
“It seems like the American pride is definitely in the game, and I feel like the drivers, the brands they have right now, are more that direction than they have been in the past.
asserted
they → seem → past
It was there for a moment when a lot of drivers were, I don’t know, a little more higher society, if you will, right?
asserted
you → know → drivers
It seems like everyone is more into their hotrods again, and you know, being a little more blue collar, I guess.
asserted
I → seem → hotrods
”
Going south and getting dirty
Many drivers still trace the roots of NASCAR to the short tracks of the South, which the series seemed to abandon during the 1990s and early 2000s, when races moved to purpose-built, almost cookie-cutter tracks amid a northern and westward expansion.
asserted
races → go → expansion
The move may have briefly fed a popularity explosion, but in the long run, it also might have alienated some of its base that treasures NASCAR’s historical ties to the moonshine runners of old and the outlaw image the sport has long embraced.
uncertain
sport → feed → old
The fan-favorite track in rural North Carolina opened in 1947, almost simultaneous to NASCAR’s founding, and hosted Cup Series races until 1996, at which point it sat idle for decades.
asserted
it → open → decades
But it has made a comeback in recent years, hosting the All-Star race from 2023-25, and Logano was victorious in July when the series returned with a regular-season race.
asserted
series → make → race
“The community just loved having the race there,” driver Michael McDowell said.
asserted
McDowell → love → race
“You could just feel that when you got there.”
Or take the Clash, which from 1979-97 led into the Daytona 500 every February.
uncertain
which → feel → 500
NASCAR took the exhibition race from Florida to the Los Angeles Coliseum for a three-year stretch beginning in 2022, but the novelty wore off after just one year.
asserted
novelty → take → year
So, the organization took the race to Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina for the past couple of years, and will take it back to Daytona in February.
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organization → take → February
“We’ve all been very fortunate in the garage area to make it to top-level motorsports,” driver Chris Buescher said.
asserted
Buescher → make → motorsports
“But we all came from that short-track racing background in some way, shape or form.
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we → come → way
For many, so is dirt-track racing on bullrings scattered across the country.
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racing → scatter → country
Those small-town stock car races were once a proving ground for guys like Earnhardt, whose first race car was a 1956 Ford Victoria that “The Intimidator” ran on dirt tracks around North Carolina.
asserted
Intimidator → run → Carolina
Through the early ‘90s, guys like Clint Bowyer got on the radar of NASCAR teams by slinging mud at places like Lakeside Speedway, just down the road from Kansas Speedway.
asserted
guys → get → Speedway
Turns out NASCAR is starting to feel dirty again.
asserted
NASCAR → start → ?
Former driver Tony Stewart bought famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio, pouring his support into dirt track and grassroots racing.
asserted
Stewart → buy → track
Hocevar tried his hand in a dirt late model on weeknights this past summer, and often found the going to be tough against those doing it on a nightly basis.
asserted
going → try → basis
And his Cup Series team, Spire Motorsports, has fully embraced the dirt late model business, putting together a full-time touring team and hiring one of the top drivers, Nick Hoffman, for next season.
asserted
team → embrace → season
“Nick has a great family with a proud lineage in our industry,” Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson said.
asserted
Dickerson → have → industry
“At the same time, he is fantastic with partners, has been a great coach to Carson and, most importantly, stands on the gas.
asserted
he → stand → gas
”
If you wreck me, I swear ...
asserted
I → wreck → me
More than a few expletives were dropped when Hocevar and Blaney tangled two weeks ago at Bristol, the short track nestled in the Appalachian Mountains along the Tennessee-Virginia state line that epitomizes the rubbin’-is-racin’ ethos of the early NASCAR days.
asserted
that → drop → days
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
