NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell stated that the sanctioning body does not plan to penalize Ryan Blaney or Carson Hocevar following their post-race fight at Bristol Motor Speedway.

During an appearance on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, O’Donnell explained, “Don’t use your car as a weapon, so to speak. We know the Brad Keselowski incident in Talledega with Carl Edwards, those type of things, we don’t want to see that. A right hook. You don’t want to see that.”

“We’ve been on record, you know. Drivers need to handle their business outside of the car,” he continued. “We don’t want crew members. You got a lot of big guys coming out of D1 football.”

“If drivers are going to handle their own business, the way we looked at that, the way it played out, we’re not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion. And those are two guys: Blaney’s showing his passion, showing his fire. So, no, there’s nothing coming from us in terms of — we’ll obviously watch what happens the rest of the way — but, nothing in terms of post-race penalties.”

The post-race fight was a result of an on-track wreck that saw Ryan Blaney go into the outside wall off of Carson Hocevar’s nose while the two were battling for second place with less than 50 laps left in the race.

As the laps were winding down, Blaney was able to get around Hocevar and get the second place position. As he went to secure the position Hocevar attempted a crossover and got into the rear of Blaney and sent him spinning into the outside wall.

HURRICANE HOCEVAR MAKES LANDFALL IN BRISTOL 🫨🫨

📺📱 : @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/dC5XYMHRS6

— NASCAR on USA (@NASCARonUSA) September 20, 2026

Following the conclusion of the race, Blaney confronted Hocevar on pit road. He approached Hocevar, shared some words with him, gave him a shove, and grabbed him. Hocevar responded with two right punches before his crew members drug Blaney off and pushed him to the ground.

Blaney then was able to get back to Hocevar and gave him a left jab to the face.

FIGHT NIGHT IN BRISTOL!! 🥊⚔️ pic.twitter.com/nooT5WA70U

— NASCAR on USA (@NASCARonUSA) September 20, 2026

Blaney ended up finishing 33rd while Hocevar finished third. Blaney has now dropped to sixth in the points, 52 points behind current leader Kyle Larson. Hocevar is 8th in the points. He’s 85 points behind Larson.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino on Sunday September, 27th. The race is expected to start at 3:00 PM and will be broadcast on USA. The Cup Series will have practice at 10 AM on Saturday, September 26th followed by qualifying at 11 AM.

NEXT: Marco Andretti Reacts To Carson Hocevar And Ryan Blaney Fight: “Getting Old To Me”