Andrew Ravens Thu, October 22, 2026 at 4:17 PM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NASCAR says Zane Smith had already been warned before he hit Carson Hocevar after Sunday's race at Phoenix Raceway. Officials said that warning was the main reason for Smith's $50,000 fine .
Mike Forde , NASCAR's vice president of racing communications, explained the decision on Hauler Talk , the sanctioning body's podcast on competition decisions.
Forde said officials called Smith and Hocevar to the NASCAR hauler at Atlanta after an earlier run-in between the two at Chicagoland Speedway.
"After they had their dust-up on the race track, we called both of them in at Atlanta," Forde said. "And we don't typically like talking about what we tell those drivers in the hauler."
He did share the message officials gave the two drivers.
"If you guys can't figure it out, we will help you figure it out. And they couldn't figure it out," Forde said.
The two drivers remained at odds after that meeting in July, according to Jayski . Their feud resurfaced after Sunday's race at Phoenix.
Ross Chastain made contact with Hocevar in Turn 3, which sent Hocevar's No. 77 Chevrolet into Smith's No. 38 Ford and Josh Berry 's No. 21 Ford. Smith hit the back of Hocevar's car on the cooldown lap. Hocevar finished 12th, and Smith finished 15th.
Forde said Smith "figured it out a little bit in the form of a $50,000 fine."
NASCAR issued the fine under Sections 4.4a and 10.5.2.5a of its rulebook, which cover behavioral penalty guidelines and actions that compromise event or participant safety. Smith has a few days to appeal, and Forde declined to go into more detail during that window.
The penalty came a week after NASCAR chose not to penalize Michael McDowell or Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for cooldown-lap contact at Charlotte. Officials had a lengthy discussion and viewed that incident as a heat-of-the-moment reaction that was quickly defused on pit road.
Forde said the Smith case "was a little bit different than that." He pointed to "the ask that we had that we felt was largely ignored."
Smith drives for Front Row Motorsports , while Hocevar drives for Spire Motorsports .
McDowell has also pushed back on comparisons between the two incidents .
The $50,000 fine matches the one NASCAR gave Bubba Wallace in 2024. Wallace was fined for hitting Alex Bowman 's car on the cooldown lap after the Chicago Street Race.
Smith and Hocevar are both expected to race Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, the next stop for NASCAR's top motorsports series.
Source: Sports
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