As Carson Hocevar continues to add enemies to an already lengthy list, the main thing that had become clear and obvious was that no matter what anybody said about him after the fact, nobody ever actually does anything about it.
Hocevar has a reputation for his aggressive, usually overaggressive, racing style, and he has unrepentantly shown that he does not care what anybody thinks of that style, or of his attitude.
Of course, whether that is truly the case has never actually been tested, because again, nobody ever does anything about it. Brad Keselowski is the latest name on that list, and after promising Hocevar that his day is coming, we are all still waiting with bated breath.
And that's what makes Saturday night's drama with Hocevar and Ryan Blaney even more entertaining than it already would have been.
The hilarious irony of the Carson Hocevar-Ryan Blaney Bristol drama
Blaney is generally considered a clean race car driver. He's basically the anti-Hocevar. He admitted after the Bass Pro Shops Night Race that he hasn't had an issue with Hocevar in close to a year and a half. And of course, Hocevar has a reputation that pretty much creates knee-jerk reactions that everything is his fault whenever he's even slightly involved.
And usually, those reactions are justified.
On Saturday night, Blaney worked his way around Hocevar and then came slightly down the track to try to defend. Sure, Hocevar "could have" lifted, but Blaney also "could have" stayed high and fought through the next few corners to actually clear the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
Neither driver gave an inch, and Hocevar was in the advantageous position, in that he wasn't the one spinning out as the contact unfolded.
We can forgive Blaney for being upset and for dropping an f-bomb on live TV after the fact. Hocevar's reputation is such that we can forgive anybody for being upset when he takes them out.
An irate Blaney confronted Hocevar on pit lane after the race, and Hocevar barely gave him a split-second before taking a swing at the driver of the No. 12 Ford, before Hocevar's team knocked Blaney to the ground.
The confrontation continued, but more importantly, it proved that there actually are drivers willing to stand up to Hocevar, and he is actually willing to stand his ground, rather than grin and come up with entertaining one-liners whenever he upsets someone.
But ironically, it happened the one time when the upset driver was probably the one to blame for the incident to begin with.
And for that reason, it's kind of funny, because for as entertaining as it was, the fact that it was largely misplaced anger sort of took something away from it all.
Sure, you can make the case that Blaney should have known who he was racing against, but quite frankly, that would have been on Blaney regardless of who was in the other car.
The idea that Hocevar "could have" lifted is not enough here to say that he was the one at fault. In that context, it was a hard racing incident. You know he's not going to lift, and in this particular instance, it wasn't his job to do so. Blaney wasn't clear, and Hocevar was fighting back on the inside, as he was entitled to do. Blaney chose to keep coming down, resulting in contact.
And for as much as NASCAR fans want to jump down Hocevar's throat – and again, are usually justified in doing so – this wasn't a case where that was appropriate.
So even after all that drama, NASCAR fans are still waiting for somebody who genuinely has a beef with Hocevar (and there are many) to actually do something about it. Maybe that ends up being Blaney at some point anyway, but as of now, Hocevar really hasn't done much to truly trigger Blaney's anger, even for as loaded as the ending of Saturday's race was.
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