Smith, Hocevar Clash Again After Phoenix Race

NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 19, 2026

Smith-Hocevar clash

Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar had another tense run-in after Sunday’s Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway, and this one started with late contact in the race and ended with contact after the checkered flag. Hocevar slid up the track and hit Smith after the final restart with 15 laps left in the NASCAR Cup race, and the contact took Smith out of a top-10 battle. Smith believed the move cost him a chance at a potential top-10 finish. He went on to finish 15th, while Hocevar came home 12th. The sequence added another chapter to the friction between the two drivers, and it put the focus on how a late-race clash can carry well beyond the final laps when tempers are already hot.

Smith’s response

Smith did not let the incident end with the checkered flag. After the race, he went after Hocevar on the cooldown lap and hit the rear of Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet. The move made clear that Smith wanted an immediate answer for what happened in the final laps at Phoenix Raceway. Smith’s team later told him Hocevar had been pushed into him by Ross Chastain, but Smith rejected that explanation. His response was blunt and left no doubt about how he viewed the situation. “I don’t give a f—,” Smith said. The exchange showed how quickly the frustration carried from the track to the cooldown lap.

Pit road separation

The confrontation did not escalate further once both drivers reached pit road. Smith and Hocevar were separated there, bringing the postrace exchange to an end before it could go any further. The scene was captured on video, which only extended the visibility of the clash and added to the tension between the two drivers after the checkered flag. What happened after Sunday’s race followed a familiar pattern for a hard-fought Cup finish, where one late move can shape the rest of the afternoon and spill into the minutes after the race ends.