Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar had a good, old-fashioned fistfight after Saturday’s (Sept. 19) Bristol Night Race, in which Blaney spun and crashed off the front bumper of Hocevar.
Social media, of course, had plenty of reactions. Here are a few of the best ones from Saturday night; and if you haven’t caught the action yet, feel free to watch the view from the camera of Frontstretch reporter Michael Massie below.
Former driver Kenny Wallace had plenty to say on the matter Sunday, but also had an immediate reaction as the incident unfolded.
“Carson just showed he can fight,” Wallace wrote. “‘The show.’ It’s Bristol Baby.”
Driver Brad Perez also appreciated the altercation from an entertainment standpoint.
Fans also seemed to enjoy the fight, which made what had been a mostly lackluster race on Saturday night feel like a huge event. FOX NASCAR host and media personality Kaitlin Vincie also weighed in.
Clearly, the packed house that was at Bristol on Saturday enjoyed the fight, too, with a line outside of Hocevar’s merchandise trailer that threatened to stretch the full Bristol half-mile.
The fight was even enough to get NASCAR back on ESPN’s SportsCenter, a rarity in this day and age.
All in all, the fight seemed to be a huge moment for NASCAR at a point in the season when it needed one, at least to pull in the casual viewer. Needless to say, the confrontation will be water cooler fodder all week ahead of next weekend’s race at Kansas. We’ll leave you with perhaps the best photo of it all…
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.
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