BRISTOL, Tenn. — It was Ford versus Chevrolet. It was wily veteran versus wilier bandit. It was champion vs. intimidator-in-training.
It was all that stock car racing sells itself to be, and then some.
That was Bristol Motor Speedway in the waning hours of Saturday night, two drivers on the opposite sides of the emotional spectrum coming together — first on track and second on faces. Ryan Blaney: Mr. Cool, smart on track and generally smarter still as he travels through the responsibilities of racing that are not on track. Carson Hocevar: Disrupter, rascal, mischief-maker, talent beyond his years.
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Those who have been up and down NASCAR roads for years could have predicted the post-race violence as soon as Hocevar’s Chevrolet bounced Blaney’s Ford from contention for the race win (and possibly for contention for the championship). This was tailor-made for the latest in a long line of prominent physical disagreements: Cale Yarborough versus the Allisons at Daytona. Rusty Wallace plunking Dale Earnhardt with a water bottle at Bristol. Tony Stewart versus almost everybody everywhere. An angry Kevin Harvick leaping a vehicle to get at Greg Biffle at Martinsville.
This one was even foretold by one of the participants. In comments after the crash, Blaney let the world know “something’s gonna happen,” and his fury, pent-up at that moment outside the infield medical center, was unleashed in a no-holds-barred moment a few minutes after Hocevar exited his car.
Blaney led with his mustache. There was no discussion, no exchange of ideas, no debate. Despite the presence of more than a few brawny NASCAR officials and team members ready to play tag-team roles if necessary, Blaney plunged through as if on a strong backstretch run at Daytona and shoved Hocevar, prompting Hocevar to respond with a wicked right that Sugar Ray Leonard would have endorsed. From there, the mess disintegrated into more arms swinging and pushing and yelling, even as the grandstand crowd saluted with raucous cheers.
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Somewhere, someone was printing more Hocevar T-shirts.
The irony of the situation is that blame for the on-track incident that sparked the post-race brouhaha could be shared by the two drivers, Blaney moving down too late to block a Hocevar charge, Hocevar, who claimed he was hard on the brakes, giving no quarter when hard racing between the two easily could have continued until the end.
Hocevar clearly enjoyed the moment. His hair barely tousled by the roughhousing, he gestured to the cheering crowd, then, after a longer-than-necessary waiting period, he answered every question from media members, seeming to revel in the fact that he might have put up a major wall in Blaney’s pursuit of another championship.
Despite his physical and verbal protests, Blaney was spirited away into the night (or the hauler), and Team Penske executives refused to discuss the incident.
More — much more — will be said about this, of course, and the video from a hot Bristol night will live throughout the rest of The Chase and beyond.
By the way, Joey Logano won the race.
Next: Kansas.