NASCAR has fined Zane Smith $50,000 for hitting Carson Hocevar on the cooldown lap after Sunday’s Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
The fine was listed as a behavioral penalty in NASCAR’s weekly penalty report, released Tuesday. NASCAR Communications shared the report on X. The report lists no points penalty or suspension.
Smith’s hit followed contact late in the race. Ross Chastain ran into Hocevar from behind entering Turn 3, and Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet was pushed into Smith’s No. 38 Ford.
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After the checkered flag, Smith’s team told him over the radio that Hocevar had been pushed into him. Smith replied, “I don’t give a f***.” Moments later, he hit the back of Hocevar’s car at speed.
Hocevar finished 12th, and Smith finished 15th. Smith later criticized Hocevar in post-race comments.
The fine came a week after NASCAR chose not to penalize Michael McDowell or Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for their cooldown-lap contact at Charlotte.
NASCAR’s Mike Forde said that incident was close but “did not fully rise to necessitating a penalty.” He said both drivers likely would have been penalized if the contact had sent a car into the wall or damaged another car.
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Denny Hamlin raised the Charlotte comparison on his Actions Detrimental podcast before the penalty was announced.
“They let post-race antics go last week at Charlotte. When you set a precedent like that, do you just… What’s the difference?” Hamlin said.
When it was pointed out that hitting a car from behind is different from bumping its door, Hamlin called it a “very fair argument.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on The Dale Jr. Download that NASCAR needed to act.
“Look, I just know with the way these cars are, and how people have been injured in them in the past, that specific type of contact is dangerous,” Earnhardt said.
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He said the fact that the race had already ended made it worse.
“I think in any series that is a punishable offense, and even if Hocevar was wrong for what happened during the green flag, you can’t do that s***. The race is over,” Earnhardt said.
He said some post-race contact does not draw a penalty.
“There’s a level of aggression that probably won’t get you penalized. You go up, give a guy a couple donuts. Maybe you go up behind him and hit him at maybe a five-mile-an-hour difference,” Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt said letting Smith’s hit go would invite more of the same.
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“You’re gonna have that next week. You’re gonna have four or five guys doing that next year,” Earnhardt said. “You’re gonna let the f***ing inmates run the jail?”
Smith drives the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports. His 15th-place finish helped Front Row put all three of its cars in the top 15 at Phoenix.
The Cup Series races next at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.
