Zane Smith Slams into Carson Hocevar Psot-Race Over Chaotic Misunderstanding

The beef between Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith is nothing new, as they been trading blows for years. This year they have been involved in multiple incidents, that forced NASCAR to get involved and have a conversation between the two. But all those efforts seem to be worthless as the duo has found themselves at odds yet again.

With just 15 laps left in the Phoenix race, Smith was running P8 and was duelling Josh Berry for position, when out of nowhere the No:77 Chevy of Hocevar slid up the track, making contact with the duo, ruining their momentum, costing them significant positions. This infuriated both of drivers hoping for a top-10 finish.

What the drivers didn’t know was the fact that it wasn’t the Spire Motorsports driver that caused the incident, it was the No:1 Chevy of Ross Chastain.  The Trackhouse driver made contact to the bumper of the No:77 driver after he overtook him before turn one. That contact sent the youngster up the track causing the chaos.

The race ended with Zane Smith finishing P15 while Carson Hocevar earned a P12 finish. He was furious with the final result and took his payback by slamming hard into the back of the Spire driver, during the cool down lap. Front Raw Motorsports and Spire Motorsports officials quickly got involved via radio to calm the driver down, as the didn’t want to escalate the situation.

No:77 Radio: Just make sure they know the damn 1 car [Chastain] shipped us, tried to crash us all.

No:38 Radio: Just so you know, the 1 [Chastain] was apparently the one who shipped the 77 [Hocevar] into us.

Smith: I don’t give an ****.

The FRM and Spire Team radio post-clash.

A chain reaction in the closing laps causes tempers to flare post-race. https://t.co/iuWGk0ONqb

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 19, 2026

There is real animosity between Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith

Smith not caring about Hocevar not being the real instigator of the incident shows how much the rival drivers hate each other owing to their chaotic past. On his appearance on the ‘Bussin with the Boys’ podcast back in July, Smith didn’t hesitate to attack the youngster.

He’ll try to talk to you after ,saying ‘I don’t talk to anybody out there’ — he’s full of s***. He tries to be your buddy, and then will go and screw you. And so it’s like, don’t even talk to me in the first place, because one, I don’t like you, and we’re gonna eventually have a run-in together, so let’s just not talk in the first place.

Zane Smith said.

In the same conversation, the FRM driver accused Hocevar of being two faced. He highlighted how the racer acts friendly with him on the track after incidents then play the tough guy on social media post-race. That is one thing that infuriate the racer the most about his rival.

I remember, he made a mistake — or I don’t know if he made a mistake — but he wrecked us, and then he spends the rest of the race waving at me, playing nice guy, like ‘oh man, I’m so sorry.’  And then he goes on social media and posts like ‘I don’t give a f***’ … If you’re going to be the guy hiding behind social media, that’s a coward in my opinion. Act that way in person. Say that to my face — but don’t be one way in person, and then hide behind your phone.

Zane Smith said.

NASCAR might get involved once again to try to settle the beef and there is a big possibility that Smith might get penalized for his aggression. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the upcoming days.

Also Read: Kyle Larson Went on a Profanity Laced Radio Rant Over Phoenix Disaster