Carson Hocevar isn’t interested in playing the post-race ‘Sorry about that phone call game’ with anyone.
And make no mistake, he very much views it as performative.
Josh Berry drove hard into Hocevar at Sonoma Raceway last week, both drivers inside the top-10 with three laps to go, the contract costing the Spire Motorsports No. 77 team a good result as a result. For his part, Berry was apologetic when asked about it on Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway and says he tried to personally express it to Hocevar.
SABIR TAŞI ÇATLADI!
Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar’ı pist dışına fırlatıyor.pic.twitter.com/PJd9n2rzMZ
— NASCAR Türkiye 🇹🇷 (@nascarturkiye) July 13, 2025
“The 77 was a complete mistake on my part,” Berry said. “I laid off at the bottom of (Turn) 1 and I was just trying to time it where I could get up beside Carson and follow (Tyler Reddick) through. I was just too fast through the hill and couldn’t lay off Carson and ran him off the track.
“Yeah, unfortunate and I hate it for those guys. I tried calling Carson on Monday and sent him a text. Never heard anything back. I did talk to Luke (Lambert, Spire 77 crew chief) on Monday morning to apologize to those guys. It’s just part of racing. We were on old tire and was probably just trying a little too hard in that situation.”
Hocevar has been an antagonist of sorts since arriving to the Cup Series in 2023 so some felt like Berry intentionally didn’t cut him a break. For his part, Hocevar said he viewed it as just part of the racing experience and also explained why he didn’t take the phone call.
“Nah, I mean, it’s just racing, stuff happens, and we’re all against the limit,” Hocevar told a scrum of reporters during his media availability at Dover. “I’m on the limit of everything. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t like the whole ‘have to call’ and do that and apologize on Monday thing.
“Because even if you do it intentionally, you’re never going to say it. It just becomes a (dog and) pony show a little bit. If I don’t like it … you know, it’s weird, because I’ve never been on this side of it, you know. I’m just going through the actions of it. I don’t like how it is. I appreciate the apology though. I just feel like, we go race, and whatever.”
Hocevar said he doesn’t like ‘fakeness’ and prefers ‘genuine-ness’ in all facets of his life.
“I know how I am as a driver and I think we’re all two-faced so we might as well cut it out,” Hocevar said.
Is Berry worried about retaliation since he didn’t get an answer or conversation?
“Everyone handles things differently in those situations, right,” Berry said. “Obviously, the contact at the end of the race opens the door for retaliation and if he decides to act on that opportunity, I gave him that right, right? It’s part of racing and I’ve been doing this awhile, 34 years old, and I’ve seen a lot. It kind of is what it is at this point and we’ll move on from it if something happens.”
