NASCAR will not issue penalties to Ryan Blaney or Carson Hocevar following their altercation after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast Sept. 21.
Hocevar and Blaney fought on pit road, with Hocevar throwing a couple of punches before Blaney got one in a few seconds later.
It came after the No. 12 got turned off the front bumper of the No. 77 while racing near the front of the field. Blaney’s car ended up rear-ending and hitting the outside wall, ending his night.
“If drivers are going to handle their own business, the way we looked at that, how it played out, we’re not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion, right?” O’Donnell said. “And those are two guys — Blaney’s showing his passion, showing his fire. So no, there’s nothing coming from us in terms of [penalties]. We’ll obviously watch what happens the rest of the way, but nothing in terms of post-race penalties.”
However, NASCAR will look at whether to issue penalties to pit crew members, NASCAR said in a statement.
“Further review is being conducted to determine penalties to any crew members involved in the incident, and if necessary, any penalties will be announced later this week.”
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
It will be a cold day in Porstacheville when Blaney thinks he’s tough again.