NASCAR’s decision not to penalize Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, or any crew members for the brief fight on pit road after the Bristol race will not be met favorably by everyone; however, it provides the drivers with what they have constantly requested and traditionally preferred, which is self-policing.
Self-policing was easier before the era of extensive TV coverage and social media, but it can still be done. However, there is now one issue that has inserted itself into the equation that didn’t exist previously and that’s many of the drivers’ ages.
No longer does a competitor have to possess a driver’s license to race, and in many cases they aren’t even old enough to rent a car, drink alcohol, or be in a casino. There is a social disconnect between the drivers who developed their careers without any concern for clicks and followers on various social media platforms and communicated face-to-face or via telephone instead of texts and emails.
In previous decades, most of the drivers were adults when they arrived in NASCAR’s national touring series. That’s no longer the case, and several drivers must now finish growing up in the public eye with NASCAR serving in the parental role. It’s not easy. Ironically, several of today’s veterans were once the youngsters that were getting into pit road and garage skirmishes or sent crashing into a wall.
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Joey Logano is held back by crew members after an altercation on track with Tony Stewart at Auto Club Speedway in March, 2013.
In March 2013, it was a 41-year-old Tony Stewart and a 22-year-old Joey Logano who got into a post-race fight at Auto Club Speedway. Stewart was furious at Logano for an aggressive block on the final restart with 10 laps remaining. Crew members pulled them apart and neither driver was penalized.
Two years later, 43-year-old Matt Kenseth intentionally crashed the 25-year-old Logano at Martinsville. Kenseth was retaliating for an incident three weeks earlier at Kansas Speedway when Logano spun Kenseth out of the lead and ruined his playoff run. NASCAR immediately parked Kenseth for the rest of the Martinsville race and then suspended him for the next two Cup races.
In October 2014 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 42-year-old Kenseth and a 43-year-old Stewart were pushed to their limits by a 30-year-old Brad Keselowski. Keselowski bumped Kenseth on the cool-down lap and then again on pit road. Stewart backed into Keselowski’s car on pit road. Kenseth then chased down Keselowski in the garage, tackled him, and put him in a headlock. Keselowski was fined $50,000 and placed on probation for four races for using his car as a weapon by ramming Kenseth on pit road, trying to spin 33-year-old Denny Hamlin, and hitting Stewart’s car. Stewart was fined $25,000 and put on probation for four races for backing into Keselowski on pit road. Kenseth received no penalty because he didn’t use his car as a weapon and his skirmish with Keselowski was in the garage.
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Carson Hocevar.
Now, the 42-year-old Keselowski, 36-year-old Logano, and 45-year-old Hamlin are facing a 23-year-old Hocevar whose aggressiveness often rankles the garage.
Like it or not, NASCAR has made it clear. Don’t attack each other on the track with your race cars. However, you can confront each other on pit road or in the garage. Crew members can avoid penalties by not joining the fray, but they can pull their drivers apart. Drivers’ parents also shouldn’t join a skirmish. More than one driver’s father has had his annual credential taken by NASCAR.
With all of that said, I still think the Martinsville weekend in November will be very interesting because only the season finale at Homestead remains. Stay tune.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.