FORT WORTH, TX - MAY 03: Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports Amazon Prime Chevrolet, right and Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Progressive Insurance Toyota, left lead a pack of cars down the front straightaway during NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Wurth 400 on May 3, 2026, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX. Photo by Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire AUTO: MAY 03 NASCAR Cup Series Wurth 400 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260503008
FORT WORTH, TX - MAY 03: Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports Amazon Prime Chevrolet, right and Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Progressive Insurance Toyota, left lead a pack of cars down the front straightaway during NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Wurth 400 on May 3, 2026, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX. Photo by Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire AUTO: MAY 03 NASCAR Cup Series Wurth 400 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260503008
The NASCAR hauler had at least four driver visitors ahead of this weekend’s race at EchoPark Speedway, and the talks still surround the two major incidents witnessed at Chicagoland.
Shane Van Gisbergen took out the RCR 33 car driven by Austin Hill while Zane Smith attempted to take Carson Hocevar out and managed to take himself out of the equation as well.
While the talks around these incidents are buzzing, former driver and broadcaster Kyle Petty wished that drivers wouldn’t attempt those kinds of moves at intermediate and other longer tracks on the Cup series calendar.
Petty was speaking on the Inside the Race podcast and said, “I think you run a guy high. I think you jolt a guy up on pit road; you do multiple things to ruin his day, but you don’t do this. You don’t do this because these can have catastrophic consequences. And I hope young drivers don’t start doing this.”
JOLIET, IL - JULY 05: Chase Briscoe 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota leads Christopher Bell 20 Joe Gibbs Racing SAIA Freight Logistics Toyota and Ty Dillon 10 Kaulig Racing Sea Best Chevrolet during the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series eero 400 on July 5, 2026, at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL. Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire AUTO: JUL 05 NASCAR Cup Series eero 400 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260705489400
JOLIET, IL - JULY 05: Chase Briscoe 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota leads Christopher Bell 20 Joe Gibbs Racing SAIA Freight Logistics Toyota and Ty Dillon 10 Kaulig Racing Sea Best Chevrolet during the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series eero 400 on July 5, 2026, at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL. Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire AUTO: JUL 05 NASCAR Cup Series eero 400 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260705489400
Petty was talking about drivers standing their ground and sometimes even making payback moves at races. He said that while he does support those kinds of stands from drivers, short-to-intermediate tracks like Chicagoland, Charlotte and Kansas aren’t the tracks to make such statements on.
Petty said that he wouldn’t like this kind of racing to trickle down to the upcoming drivers in the lower series.
He said, “Don’t start emulating this on bigger tracks. And it trickled down to the O’Reilly, or it trickles down to the truck series. But at the same time, Zane Smith made one mistake, and in his issue and what he did, he took himself out.”
FRM driver’s move his own undoing
Kyle Petty separated the two incidents and said that while the SVG move on Hill may have seemed like payback for their bust-up at San Diego, Zane Smith’s move on Hocevar was worse off because of a blunder that Smith made.
On the Inside the Race podcast, Petty said, “You can’t take yourself out. It’s a chess move. You've got to make your move and escape. You can’t make your move and know you’re giving up a man. He made a move, and he gave himself up. He went on a kamikaze mission.”
It was Smith’s 100th Cup start, and the 27-year-old Front Row Motorsport 38 Ford driver finished the race 28th. Not the ideal result for the celebratory milestone.
It was on lap 32 when Smith bumped Hocevar towards the outside wall, and in doing so, he ended up against the same wall and lost performance on a day when his car was faster than it had been most of the season.
It wasn’t the first time that Smith attempted to take out Hocevar; he made a few attempts in Nashville as well but unsuccessfully. Smith was looking for payback for Hocevar taking him out in Iowa last year.
Smith may or may not be looking for payback, but he should probably pay attention to Kyle Petty and ensure he has an out if he’s planning on making a statement by nudging someone’s rear bumper.
Do you agree that these kinds of moves shouldn’t be made on longer, quicker tracks? Let us know.
You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!
Written by
Debrup Chaudhuri
Edited by
Suyashdeep Sason