![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/michael-mcdowell-penalty-comments.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
NASCAR Cup Series veteran Michael McDowell isn’t holding back on Zane Smith’s $50,000 fine for an on-track confrontation with Carson Hocevar. <\/p>\n
NASCAR fined Zane Smith $50,000 for ramming Carson Hocevar\u2019s car after the Phoenix checkered flag at Sunday\u2019s Freeway Insurance 500, Heavy.com\u2018s NASCAR correspondent John Breeden reported Tuesday.<\/a> But that wasn\u2019t the end of the story, as the punishment drew sharp and sometimes puzzled responses across the NASCAR world.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing the checkered flag of Sunday\u2019s race, Smith rammed into the back of Hocevar\u2019s No. 77 Chevrolet, expressing displeasure for previous on-track contact during the race,\u201d Breeden reported.<\/p>\n A week earlier, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. traded bumps on a Charlotte cool-down lap that ended with a spin, and the fact that neither McDowell or Stenhouse drew any discipline for the incident was noted by NASCAR fans and commentators alike. The contrast came down to the fact that Smith had previously been warned about his on-track actions by NASCAR officials, but committed the offense on Sunday anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty much the message was this: if you guys can\u2019t figure it out, we will help you figure it out, and they couldn\u2019t figure it out. So, this is us pretty much helping Zane Smith figure it out in the form of a $50,000 fine,\u201d NASCAR\u2019s Mike Forde said on the \u201cHauler Talk\u201d podcast, as quoted by NASCAR.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n But McDowell, who was involved in the earlier incident without receiving a fine, was even more blunt in his comments, which he posted Tuesday to his social media channels.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about we use our brains here and realize that rubbing doors in first gear at 40 mph is different than smashing someone at 130 mph. The fact that this has to be explained is mind-blowing to me,\u201d McDowell wrote Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Front Row Motorsports Driver Zane Smith\u2019s $50,000 Fine McDowell\u2019s No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet took the first hit from Stenhouse on the Oct. 11 Charlotte Motor Speedway cool-down lap, and McDowell\u2019s retaliating bumps sent Stenhouse spinning, according to NASCAR.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The incident stood in contrast to Sunday\u2019s more violent Smith-Hocevar ramming.<\/p>\n Smith accelerated into the rear bumper of Hocevar\u2019s No. 77 Chevrolet after the Freeway Insurance 500 finish and followed him toward pit road. He had been caught up in Lap 296 contact, when Ross Chastain tagged Hocevar and sent him into Smith\u2019s No. 38 Ford.<\/p>\n The two drivers share a history. Smith appeared to intentionally wreck Hocevar at Chicagoland Speedway on July 5, and NASCAR summoned both to the hauler at EchoPark Speedway a week later, according to RACER reporter Kelly Crandall<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cZane Smith and Carson Hocevar have had previous run-ins, and NASCAR told them earlier this year to figure it out or they would get involved. Tuesday, NASCAR did just that with a fine for Smith, who ran into Hocevar after Sunday\u2019s race,\u201d RACER\u2018s Crandall wrote on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the hauler chats, the hauler talks that they get called to, are sort of the modern-day equivalent of the probation. So, essentially, I think NASCAR is viewing it as, \u2018Hey, we warned them. Zane Smith did something else, and that crossed the line,’\u201d The Athletic\u2018s Jeff Gluck added in an online video commentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gluck, who said he spoke with NASCAR about the decision, added that Smith caught up to Hocevar and rammed him, with Denny Hamlin saying on the Actions Detrimental podcast that data showed Smith may have hit 120 mph.<\/p>\n Zane Smith\u2019s Career And Disciplinary Record Smith, 27, drives the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports and won the 2022 Truck Series championship with the team, according to NASCAR.com<\/a>. He owns nine Truck wins and finished second in ARCA points in 2018, but has no Cup victories and sits 26th in the standings.<\/p>\n He was relegated to last after a second-place Truck finish at Las Vegas in 2022 for a lug nut violation, according to NASCAR.com\u2018s appeals panel report<\/a>. NASCAR ejected his car chief at Phoenix in March, according to NASCAR.com\u2018s March report<\/a>. In 2018, he rammed ARCA rival Michael Self after a Salem Speedway clash, according to Frontstretch<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tJonathan Vankin<\/a> JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist who covers MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, boxing, golf, and Olympic sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Newspaper and Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering the Olympics, pro baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty NASCAR Cup Series veteran Michael McDowell isn’t holding back on Zane Smith’s $50,000 fine for an on-track…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-940668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Zane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/NASCAR-Zane-Smith-Carson-Hocevar-penalty.jpg\")
GettyZane Smith, driver of the #38 Aaron\u2019s Dream Machine Ford, was hit with a $50,000 fine Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Carson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/NASCAR-Zane-Smith-Carson-Hocevar-phoenix-penalty.jpg\")
GettyCarson Hocevar was rammed by Zane Smith after the checkered flag waved in Phoenix.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/nascar-talladega-40-cars-start.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n