Carson Hocevar has been fined $50,000 and docked 25 points in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series driver’s standings for violating the sport’s Member Code of Conduct Penalty Options and Guidelines sections from the NASCAR Rule Book after he sent Harrison Burton for a spin under caution during this past weekend’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The incident involving Hocevar’s actions at Nashville occurred with 58 laps remaining when the caution flew due to Austin Dillon hitting and sending Brad Keselowski backward against the outside wall in Turn 2, eliminating Keselowski from contention. Then just ahead of Keselowski’s carnage and with the field reducing pace under the caution period, Hocevar bumped and clipped the right-rear quarter panel of Burton’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry and sent Burton for a spin through the backstretch while Hocevar, who barely made contact with Todd Gilliland’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, proceeded. Hocevar, who is campaigning in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series for Spire Motorsports, finished in 16th place, one spot ahead of Gilliland. Burton would end up in 28th place after he was eliminated in a multi-car wreck during the event’s second of a record five overtime attempts.
With his docked points, Hocevar, who was ranked in 22nd place in the driver’s standings, drops to 24th place in the standings. Currently, the 21-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, and is competing for the Rookie-of-the-Year title, trails the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs by 181 points with seven regular-season events remaining on the schedule.
Additional penalties levied from this past weekend’s triple-header weekend at Nashville involved two Craftsman Truck Series crew chiefs who were fined $2,500 for a single unsecured lug nut discovered on their respective entries. The fined penalties involved Jon Leonard, crew chief for the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry piloted by Matt Mills, and Jeriod Prince, crew chief for the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 entry piloted by Matt Crafton. During this past Friday’s Truck Series event at Nashville, Mills ended up in eighth place while Crafton settled in 23rd place.
With the Craftsman Truck Series entering a one-week break, the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series’ teams return to action for this upcoming weekend’s second annual Chicago Street Course events in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. The Xfinity Series’ The Loop 110 is set to occur on Saturday, July 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC while the Cup Series’ Grant Park 165 is set to occur on Sunday, July 7, at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
