It may have taken Carson Hocevar's own team suspending him first, but NASCAR finally penalized the driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet following his brake-checking incident(s) with Team Penske's Austin Cindric this past weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
And it didn't stop with the $100,000 fine.
NASCAR docked Hocevar 25 points in the championship standings, and they issued the same points penalty to Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry for his similar incident with Team Penske's Ryan Blaney. Berry was fined $50,000. Hocevar also notably intentionally spun out to cause a caution.
With Hocevar suspended for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway this coming weekend, he cannot gain any more points in the championship standings. And he's already set to enter the weekend one spot lower than he would have.
Hocevar left Martinsville sitting 12th in the standings, with the ability to ascend to as high as eighth in Sunday's 267-lap Straight Talk Wireless 400 at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead, Florida oval. He's now 13th, after dropping behind 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and he could potentially drop to as low as 16th, last among the 16 playoff drivers. He's now just 35 points ahead of RFK Racing's Chris Buescher for that final spot.
Here's a look.
NASCAR Cup standings after Carson Hocevar penalty
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 2469 | 0 |
2 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2402 | -67 |
3 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2399 | -70 |
4 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2385 | -84 |
5 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 2366 | -103 |
6 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 2344 | -125 |
7 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 2336 | -133 |
8 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 2309 | -160 |
9 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 2303 | -166 |
10 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 2268 | -201 |
11 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 2263 | -206 |
12 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 2257 | -212 |
13 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 2234 | -235 |
14 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 2214 | -255 |
15 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 2210 | -259 |
16 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 2199 | -270 |
NASCAR fans are waiting with bated breath to see if Hocevar will be offering a 77% discount on his online shop, to keep in line with past trends.
As for Berry, he has been inarguably the top non-playoff performer of the first nine races of the postseason, and even going back to the latter stages of the regular season. He has climbed from 33rd in the standings all the way up to 21st, but his 25-point penalty knocked him back to 22nd, behind Front Row Motorspors' Todd Gilliland.
Berry would have entered Homestead with a chance to climb as high as 19th. Now he can finish no higher than 20th, and he could potentially drop to as low as 26th.
Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400 is set to be shown live on NBC from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action from the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season finale!
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