MADISON, Ill. — The media center at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is plastered with posters. Posters of none other than Carson Hocevar and Brad Keselowski.
And why wouldn’t their faces be everywhere? The run-in between the two drivers in last Sunday’s (Sept. 6) Southern 500 and the resulting war of words that followed has dominated the headlines all week.
Hocevar has had no shortage of controversial incidents this season, but the spark for this incident in particular was ignited after Hocevar washed up the track and spun Keselowski in turn 4 at the end of stage one in the Southern 500. Keselowski recovered to finish the race on the lead lap, but he also offered a warning to Hocevar after exiting the car.
“His day’s coming, and it’s coming hard,” Keselowski said. “Watch out, Carson.”
Spire Motorsports team owner Jeff Dickerson made an appearance on the Gluckcast later in the week, and he made it clear that he wasn’t afraid to escalate the situation to involve RFK Racing’s Chase cars of Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece if Keselowski chose to retaliate against Hocevar.
“We don’t want to get in a crashing cars contest,” Dickerson said. “I mean, they have two cars in the Chase, too. I mean, what are we doing? You know what I mean? It’s just like, he wants to dump Carson, so then Carson goes and gets [Chris Buescher]? I’m just saying is there are all of these unwritten rules out there.
“Chase guys, non-Chase guys. Brad knows these rules; he wrote them. You know? So, if a non-Chase guy wants to do that, okay then, I guess whatever happens, happens. And it’s the same to us. But I can tell you, if Carson is going to get wrecked, there’s going to be a commensurate response.”
What was Keselowski’s response to Dickerson’s comments?
“Bring it. I’ll fight back with anybody in the garage. I’m not afraid of that.”
Preece, who has a history with Hocevar dating back to their time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, offered a short but concise response to Dickerson’s remarks.
“Careful what you look for, because you might find it.”
Buescher, meanwhile, was annoyed to even be in the conversation.
“I mean, we just ignore the stupidity and roll on,” Buescher said. “That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve heard, obviously we had nothing to do with that. …
“It’s just dumb, so dumb, to say something like that. And yeah, let them do what they’ll do. Obviously, it’s been posted all over the media center and everywhere around the garage, so everyone’s going to play into it. We don’t want to be a part of that story, and I don’t know why we are.”
In NASCAR’s Hauler Talk podcast episode after Darlington, NASCAR Senior Director of Racing Communications Amanda Ellis said that while the feud was a topic of conversation in Tuesday’s (Sept. 8) competition department debrief, NASCAR has not scheduled a meeting with the two drivers.
“There’s a chance that (Cup Series director) Brad Moran may speak with Brad Keselowski just to follow up on his comments and check in,” Ellis said. “But no formal meeting in the hauler or anything like that. Hopefully those two will work it out, and we’ll move on.”
NASCAR hasn’t shied away from handing out penalties for retaliatory accidents that the sanctioning body deems intentional, as shown by Preece’s $50,000 fine and 25-point penalty that was upheld on appeal for wrecking Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway in May.
That stance may weaken the ability for drivers to self-police, but it also defuses situations from escalating any further on the racetrack. And in that regard, Keselowski says that NASCAR’s “gotta do what [it’s] gotta do to protect the sport, and I respect that.”
But retaliation being frowned upon and at risk for penalty hasn’t made it extinct. Look no further than last weekend’s NASCAR O’Reilly Series race at Darlington where, in the midst of a heated battle, Corey Day spun William Sawalich in an incident which led to an argument between the two after the race.
The two played nice with each other on track in Saturday’s (Sept. 12) race at Gateway until lap 134, when Day ran Sawalich up the track in turns 1 and 2 while battling for a spot inside the top five. Sawalich then made a hard left on the straightaway into Day, which sent the No. 17 careening out of control into the inside wall and out of the race.
Seeing what unfolded Saturday night begs a simple question: could we see the same thing unfold between Hocevar and Keselowski this weekend?
Both feuds started a week ago. One of them escalated in the very next race. The other has yet to be determined.
The rivalry between Keselowski and Hocevar is being played up. The posters are plastered everywhere. And now that this weekend has already seen tempers boil over once, everyone will be watching where the Nos. 6 and 77 cars are running on track for the entirety of Sunday’s 300-miler.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
Is it racing or wrestling?