Joey Logano led the final seven laps Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway after seizing the lead from Carson Hocevar, who overshadowed the winner despite finishing third.
Hocevar, a brash 23-year-old who has earned the ire of veterans with his aggressive driving, traded punches in the pits with Ryan Blaney after they were involved in an incident while racing for second with 41 laps left.
Hocevar stopped his car after finishing third and was greeted by a shove from Blaney.
The 6-foot-4 Hocevar, who stands a few inches taller than Blaney, responded with two overhand rights.
The first punch knocked off Blaney’s hat, and the second connected with Blaney’s left cheek.
Blaney fell to the pavement and then scrambled to his feet and out of a crew member’s hold while Hocevar raised his arms and pointed at him.
Blaney charged and threw a wild left that knocked off Hocevar’s hat.
They then were separated by team members as Blaney continued to yell at Hocevar.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of talking,” Hocevar said. “He just kind of said one thing and then went after me, and I wasn’t going to take it. I got ran into a lot for the win. That was for second and he wants to come fight. They got an old-school Bristol show here.”
The contact between the drivers started shortly after Blaney took second with an outside pass of Hocevar, who immediately slid his No. 77 Chevrolet down the track.
Blaney moved low to block, and Hocevar stayed in the accelerator and knocked the No. 12 Ford into a spin that ended in the inside wall.
“I don’t know what I did wrong there,” Hocevar said. “I crossed him over and looked like he spun himself, and then he wants to instigate a fight, so I was going to finish that, and it seemed like the crowd was pretty pumped up, so I was going to play the audience for a second.”
In an interview during the race, Blaney said, “I tried to protect the bottom, he crossed and never lifted, and I got crashed.”
When asked which driver was at fault, Blaney said, “I don’t (expletive) know. Each person is going to say they did nothing wrong.”
Logano started from the pole position and led 93 laps to move into third place in the points standings.
Kyle Larson finished second to move into the Chase lead by a point over Denny Hamlin.
Christopher Bell was fourth, followed by Ty Gibbs, who led 120 laps before finishing fifth.
Gibbs was driving a No. 54 Toyota that sported a paint scheme honoring the late Kyle Busch, who had a record 23 wins in NASCAR national series at Bristol.
It was among multiple tributes to the Richard Childress Racing driver who died in May.
Fans waved yellow towels on the 18th lap in honor of Busch, who won two Cup Series championships in the No. 18 Toyota.
His widow, Samantha, addressed the crowd before the race.
“Bristol was always so special to Kyle,” Samantha Busch said. “He loved racing under the lights, the energy of this place, and most of all, the fans. For 20 years, this sport was our life. It’s where we raised our babies and made some of our very best memories. I never imagined we’d be standing here without him. But looking out at all of you reminds me that we aren’t walking this alone.”
Legal battle continues
In its federal lawsuit that accuses Spire Motorsports of cheating by using stolen intellectual property, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a motion Thursday claiming that Spire and chief motorsports officer Chris Gabehart violated a temporary restraining order and should be held in contempt.
A federal judge ruled in March that Gabehart can work for Spire but not in the competition director role he was in while with Joe Gibbs Racing last season.
Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson responded to the motion in a statement Friday night. “JGR does not get to control what other race teams do through court cases,” Dickerson said. “JGR does not own tire pressures, JGR does not own the people who work in this industry, and JGR does not own Spire. Spire looks forward to responding to JGR’s motion in court. To be clear, months of discovery have shown that Spire Motorsports has done nothing wrong.”
Up next
The NASCAR Cup Series will begin a stretch of three consecutive races on 1.5-mile ovals with Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 27. Tyler Reddick won the April 19 race at the track in Kansas City, Kansas.
