Carson Hocevarwas enjoying a strong day with no drama at Kansas, running inside the top ten and ending Stage 1 in seventh place.
Unfortunately, things went very wrong on a Lap 122 restart. Hocevar was on the inside as the race got back underway, and as he moved up towards the middle, he collided with Ty Gibbs, who was looking to move inside of Bubba Wallace from the top.
The three cars collided with Wallace and Hocevar spinning to the inside. Zane Smith, Erik Jones, and Josh Berry also spun in the chaos.
Hocevar explains
Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace slide through the grass!
— Motorsport (@Motorsport) September 27, 2026
Here’s the restart involving Hocevar, Brad Keselowski and more. 👀 pic.twitter.com/AztSJ92gYh
Hocevar had to limp around the track for the remainder of the day, finishing 33rd and dropping three positions in the standings to eleventh.
So, what went wrong? According to Hocevar, it was essentially a case of two drivers going for the same piece of track at the same moment.
"Yeah, I mean, it just looked like me and the 54 [Gibbs] were just kind of going for the same spot," he told NASCAR on USA. "He was in my blind spot, so I didn't know he was shooting that middle. So, yeah, I guess on me, but we just ended up wrecking. After that, our car was destroyed. So, yeah, not a lot of fun, but it was it was good to have speed at the start ... Overall, I'd much rather be fast and wrecked and slow. So, yeah, something to build on, I guess."
Hocevar repeated that when speaking with Motorsport.com later, saying of the incident: "It looked like we just kind of met. I was trying to run middle, so was the 54 [Gibbs]. We all just kind of met. So, yeah, we just wrecked."
Keselowski's role in the wreck?
Went back to the HBO In-Car Cam from Kez coming to the green with Hocevar in front.. pic.twitter.com/LdwRFlizwK
— Speedway Digest (@speedwaydigest) September 27, 2026
There was some question as to Brad Keselowski's role in the incident, as he was right behind Hocevar and did touch the No. 77 right before he started drifting right. Based on Hocevar's comments, Keselowski had nothing to do with it, but it still got attention due to their recent run-in at Darlington and Keselowski's promise of payback.
When TV caught up with Keselowski, he didn't have much to add. "I don't know. They crashed. I didn't see what happened. They were in front of me and then they weren't. So from what I'm told, they made some contact there, the outside lane.
"So I don't really feel like that had anything to do with me, but it makes for a damn good story."
