NASCAR Suspends Carson Hocevar for 2026 Season Finale

NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer says Carson Hocevar's history is why his Martinsville fine was twice the size of Josh Berry's.

NASCAR fined Hocevar $100,000 on Tuesday for repeatedly brake-checking Austin Cindric during the race at Martinsville Speedway.

Berry was fined $50,000 for brake-checking Ryan Blaney in a separate incident during the same race.

Both drivers lost 25 driver points.

Berry has disputed his penalty.

Sawyer explained the difference in fines on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

"As we reviewed both of those incidents, and you look at the 77, and with Carson being in situations before where we've had behavioral situations and penalties, we've had discussion with him," Sawyer said.

"We just felt like after reviewing all of the data and the audio, that this one rose to a level that it needed to be more than just the $50,000 that Josh got, and the 25 points for both," Sawyer continued.

Sawyer said NASCAR kept the points penalty the same for both drivers to stay consistent with past decisions.

"As we looked at it, trying to be as consistent as we've been in the past on the points side of it, and we landed on, with both of them, 25," Sawyer said.

"Again, the difference being the monetary side of it, and we felt like that would have more of an impact than, you know, the points side of it."

The data collected from Hocevar's car showed four hard brake applications on the straightaways in front of Cindric's No. 2 Ford.

Hocevar's spotter, Tyler Green, could be heard on the audio telling him to stop.

Spire Motorsports, Hocevar's own team, had already suspended him for Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Justin Haley will drive the No. 77 in his place.

Some fans and others in the sport questioned why it took NASCAR two days to act on the incident.

Sawyer said NASCAR wants to get better at making these calls while the race is still going.

"The world that we live in today with the amount of data we can pull off the cars and go back and review that, you know, we can make better decisions," Sawyer said in a second clip from the interview.

"The one thing that I would add, something that we're looking at, is how we can do a better job, we as NASCAR do a better job, and officiate this within the race," he added.

Sawyer credited NASCAR's production facility and its team for getting closer to having that data live.

"But what we really strive is to get it right," Sawyer said.

"And sometimes you have to wait just a little bit to get all the data and get all the information to be able to do that," he said.

Jeff Burton, the former Cup Series driver turned analyst, has been critical of Hocevar all year.

Burton said he believes the suspension could be a turning point for the young driver.

"Not only as a driver but as a person, I believe the best thing that could happen to Carson is what happened," Burton said.

"There are times we don't appreciate what we have until we lose it, so many times," Burton said.

"And I have seen in this sport and in life where you get a dose of reality and it changes your perspective," he said.

"And you can take that and you can go this way or that way with it."

Burton said Hocevar has people around him who support him.

"I think Carson has people around him that support him – Jeff Dickerson says we love him, we support him," Burton said.

"And if Carson will take this and say 'OK, I can have a personality, I can be different, I can shake things up, I can test the system.' Which he does, a lot," Burton said.

"But also I have to operate within, there's a reasonable expectation of being a professional race car driver," he said.

"This is freaking the NASCAR Cup Series," Burton said.

"You should be held to a high standard," he said.

"You should be," Burton said.

"But you shouldn't have to be like every other driver, you can still have your personality," he said.

"How do I do all those things?" Burton said.

"I think this could be the best thing to happen to him," Burton said.

"I'm pulling for Carson," he said.

"He brings energy and excitement," Burton said.

"But, he can do it better than he's doing it," he said.

Hocevar issued a statement after the suspension was announced, though the exact wording was not included in available source materials.

The incident at Martinsville was not Hocevar's first run-in with NASCAR officials this season.

His history of behavioral situations and prior penalties played a direct role in the size of the fine, according to Sawyer.

The $100,000 penalty is among the largest NASCAR has issued for an on-track incident in recent years.

Brake-checking, the act of abruptly slowing a car in front of a trailing competitor, is considered a safety violation because it can cause high-speed rear-end collisions.

The practice has been penalized by NASCAR in the past, though fines and point deductions have varied depending on the severity and context of each case.