The latest chapter of a simmering feud between Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim added another chapter on Sunday during the Brickyard 400.<\/p>\n
On Lap 91, Heim came down pit road ahead of Hocevar, and the Spire Motorsports driver leaned all the way down to the apron side-by-side with his rival with a middle finger out the door. Heim had let team owner Denny Hamlin go by just moments before but did not extend such a courtesy to Hocevar.<\/p>\n
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After the race, Hocevar said he simply was offering a prediction that Heim would win the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a fan, wanted to wave. He\u2019s number one. He won,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cIt\u2019s fine. We don\u2019t like each other, but we race really hard and his stuff\u2019s super-fast, obviously. Yeah, the car he\u2019s in, but he does a really, really good job with it. I\u2019m looking forward to, when we get our stuff a little better, being in front of him, and maybe holding him off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heim went on to win the race, and wasn\u2019t even aware of the gesture until the TNT Sports booth showed him on the post-race show, resulting in an equally quirky rebuttal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI handed him a big fat L,\u201d Heim said.<\/p>\n
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The rivalry dates back to their time in the Truck Series, where Hocevar cost Heim a championship in 2023. Hocevar spun Heim, who then retaliated, which caused a caution that denied Grant Enfinger that same championship. Ben Rhodes went on to win his second championship that night.<\/p>\n
Heim hasn\u2019t moved on from the transgression and he wasn\u2019t going to let Hocevar go by on Sunday the way he let Hamlin by.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was blocking him, not really too bad, I thought,\u201d Heim said after the race. \u201cI mean, I was trying to just hold my position, and I never threw like a bad block. I was just trying to protect my entry, and he didn\u2019t like it, but he lost and I won, so I don\u2019t really care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hocevar recognized the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both good at manipulating air, so a lot of times, we\u2019re just pissing each other off,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cI mean, clearly for him, he won, so he don\u2019t care. But for me today, I\u2019m like, damn it. It just makes it more difficult than some of the other guys in the field you can take advantage of. So it\u2019s just like, damn! I wish they were still holding him out and running him part-time because that\u2019s eventually a car I\u2019ll have to race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Heim was dismissive of the questions during his post-race press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did he finish today?\u201d<\/p>\n
The media in unison: \u2018Ninth.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHuh. You guys love talking about a guy who finished ninth. I mean, holy crap,\u201d he said. \u201cYeah, I mean, all I did was make sure he stayed behind me, and I did, and I finished in front of him. I don\u2019t worry about a narrative or a genre. Like, he\u2019s got a ton of talent, and he\u2019s going to win a lot of races, and I\u2019m focused on myself and trying to do the same. That\u2019s really all there is to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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