​Add Zane Smith to the roster of NASCAR drivers who clearly aren’t fans of Carson Hocevar. Smith, who pilots the No. 38 Ford, let loose on Hocevar during a recent appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys, a podcast hosted by former NFL stars Taylor Lewan and Will Compton. In that interview, Smith labeled Hocevar a “bum” and a “coward.” While the exact date of the episode isn’t specified, it dropped just days after Smith appeared to wreck Hocevar in the Cup Series race at Chicagoland. Smith slammed into the back of Hocevar in Turn 2 on the 32nd lap of the race.
On the podcast, with fellow Cup Series racer Riley Herbst seated beside him, Smith explained that his disdain for Hocevar dates back at least to last season, when the two had a clash at Iowa. After crashing in that event, Smith called Hocevar an “idiot” among other choice words. “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 goes on social media and like posts. … If you’re going to be the guy hiding behind social media, I don’t know. That’s a coward in my opinion,” Smith said on the episode. “Act that way in person, like say that to my face, but don’t be one way in person and then hide behind your phone.”
Hocevar, the 23-year-old driving the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, has quickly built a reputation in the NASCAR garage for aggressive, unapologetic on-track behavior. That style has yielded him notable results, including a win at Talladega early this season, and even drew a comparison from racing legend Richard Petty to Dale Earnhardt. Still, it hasn’t earned him many friends in the Cup Series.
Earlier in the season, Hocevar drew attention after starting a multi-car crash at Michigan, prompting a scolding from Bubba Wallace. “He’s fast, he’s going for every move every second, and it’s not worth it. He’s creating a lot of enemies. This is the same old story, same old Hocevar,” Wallace remarked afterward. “But I just told him, ‘You’re fast, a lot of us are jealous of what you have and what you’re able to do, but we’re beating you because we can put a race together better than you.’”
When asked about Smith recently on a Twitch stream, Hocevar dismissed the conflict with a touch of humor: “What’s Zane’s problem? I don’t know man, maybe his T-shirt sales were low, I don’t know. Who cares?”
The backstory between Smith and Hocevar includes their Cup Series alliance as Spire Motorsports teammates in 2024, before Smith moved to Front Row Motorsports ahead of last season. Smith, a 27-year-old California native who captured the Truck Series championship in 2022, is still seeking his first Cup Series victory as he continues to chase a breakthrough in the premier series.