Carson Hocevar has brushed off his middle-finger gesture toward Corey Heim with a tongue-in-cheek explanation after the Brickyard 400, joking that he was only “waving” at the race winner.
On Lap 91 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Heim was heading to pit road after letting his 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin pass. Hocevar pulled alongside the No. 67 Toyota and extended his middle finger through the window as the two cars raced side by side down the frontstretch.
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The Spire Motorsports driver laughed off the incident in a post race interview.
“I’m just a fan. Wanted to wave at him. He’s number one. He won,” Carson Hocevar said.
“It’s fine. We don’t like each other, but we race really hard and his stuff is super fast, obviously. With the car he’s in, he does a really, really good job with it. I’m looking forward to when we get our stuff a little better, being in front of him and maybe holding him up.”
Heim, who is set to become a full-time Cup Series driver in 2027, had the last laugh at Indianapolis. After starting seventh, the 23XI Racing driver led a race-high 58 laps and won the Brickyard 400 in only his 15th career start. His first Cup win came at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado street course.
Meanwhile, Hocevar started with plenty of promise. The 23-year-old earned the Busch Light Pole Award after posting the fastest qualifying lap at Indianapolis and stayed near the front through the opening stage but faded during the second half of the race. He crossed the finish line in ninth.
“You’re just bleeding a slow death” – Carson Hocevar on pit cycles at Indianapolis
Carson Hocevar felt the race slipped away during the green-flag pit cycles, even though his No. 77 Chevrolet had the speed to fight near the front at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Spire Motorsports driver explained that his fuel strategy demanded fast laps through each cycle.
“The way we were on fuel, I needed to be able to run really fast laps. Just twice in a row, you just lose one spot,” Hocevar said.
“Every time I would lose a spot on a cycle, I’m just like, ‘You’re just bleeding a slow death.'”
Hocevar is up to fifth in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings after the race.
Edited by Palak Gupta