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Spire Motorsports Suspends Carson Hocevar For Final NASCAR Cup Series Race, Replaces Him With Justin Haley

November 3, 2026  ·
  John Trent

Spire Motorsports announced it has suspended its driver Carson Hocevar for the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway following his conduct on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. He will be replaced by Justin Haley.

The team announced in a post to social media, “Spire Motorsports has suspended Carson Hocevar for this weekend’s NASCAR Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Justin Haley will drive the No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.”

Spire Motorsports Co-Owner Jeff Dickerson explained, “A decision like this has a lot of variables and a cascading effect across an organization like ours. The easy thing would have been to leave this in NASCAR’s hands and let them decide what any penalty should be. To us, however, this isn’t about money or points. We believe in respect. Our integrity matters. This is the right decision for Spire Motorsports.”

“Everyone here loves working with Carson, and we’ve enjoyed watching him thrive alongside our team. Sometimes the right decision for someone you care about hurts in the short term. The way Carson conducted himself at Martinsville doesn’t meet the standard we set for our drivers, team members or employees, and there are consequences for that. That doesn’t mean we don’t love him and support him,” Dickerson continued. “Racing at the Cup level is a privilege, and it comes with an expected level of professionalism from everyone who represents Spire Motorsports. We’ll go to Homestead united and compete as an organization. After that, we can get ready for Daytona in February with the right mindset to contend for a championship.”

Hocevar responded to the suspension with a post to social media. He wrote, “This is an embarrassing day for me. I let the people down that gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to drive a Cup car. I also let down my team, sponsors, and fans. I crossed the line with my on-track actions and gave Jeff and Spire Motorsports no option but to put someone else in the 77 car this weekend at Homestead. I’ll be rooting for the entire organization this weekend and look forward to coming back in 2027 as a better driver, competitor and teammate.”

On Sunday at Martinsville, Hocevar brake checked Austin Cindric at least four times ultimately ending his day with a 36th place finish. The DNF saw Cindric fall down the points standings from a tie for 8th to 11th in points with Hocevar just one spot behind him in 12th, just four points back.

Following the race, Hocevar commented on the contact telling USA Sports, “I got lost there for a second, but our car wasn’t great. But my guys worked on it pretty good there. And we kept on making round changes and front adjustments. We had a bad pit stop that unfortunately put us back, but luckily my guys rebounded. But it’s tough to rebound here. Even good cars get out of the game and they can’t recover. For where we were, just okay. We needed every advantage that we could have for things to go right, and they just didn’t for us. Luckily, it’s still in striking distance to 10th in points, I think, which would be good for us and our team.”

“I got full-throttled here in the Spring and I just think it’s Martinsville. I had a lot of fun and I think me and Austin have raced each other really well, or at least I’ve been pointed him by a lot. His cars have been really fast. I just think that’s just Martinsville. I just think we were having fun.”

Hocevar’s driving was heavily criticized following the incident. While Kenny Wallace ultimately blamed Cindric for not dumping Hocevar, on Hocevar’s driving he said, “Carson just started getting pissed, throwing a temper tantrum. He just started brake checking. Come up off the corner, he looks and he sees Austin Cindric on his ass, just slams on the brake. And Austin Cindric just pow. His hood flies up into the air. And then all of a sudden, Hocevar turns left, lets Cindric go back by then he gets back in front of him, brake checks him again. Carson Hocevar brake checked Austin Cindric three or four times. He knocked the whole front end of Austin Cindric’s car straight off.”

Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett not only blasted Hocevar for his driving, but also the way he spoke about it in his post-race interview.

Burton said, “That’s not just Martinsville, I’m sorry. And it’s just ridiculous. I don’t care. That’s just ridiculous. You get mad at somebody and you can’t just say, ‘I lost myself.’ It’s your job not to lose yourself. You’re a professional race car driver. That’s just not an adequate answer.”

Jarrett added, “I’m not impressed at all. That’s not racing whatsoever. We talk about that at some point in time whenever you find yourself in a situation just as Talladega that you need some help to work your way up through and get a chance to win and then you wonder why everybody goes the other way whenever you pull out. It’s because of things just like this and you can’t keep doing it.”

Burton concurred, “These are the things that at Talladega, it was very clear, ‘We’re not working with you.’ And he had a car that potentially could have won that race. You just can’t. ‘I lost myself.’ I’m sorry, you’re a professional race car driver, the highest form of motorsports in North America. That’s not an adequate answer.

After reviewing the in-car data that showed that Hocevar did indeed brake-check Cindric, Jamie McMurray noted, “There could be consequences that come from it.”

On Actions Detrimental, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “Is what Hocevar did to Cindric wrong? Yes. Is is pretty [crappy]? Yes. … Part of me wants to say, obviously, “Hocevar, you got to [freaking] dial it down. Come on, man. You can’t treat people this way. This isn’t the code. You’re outside the code. This here’s the box we all race in. You’re outside of it, repeatedly.’ Part of me wants to say, ‘That’s true,’ because it is, but the other part of me wants to say, ‘I want some chaos.'”

Denny Hamlin responded, “That’s not sport. The entertainment that you love and the fans—. I believe we have to maintain the integrity of the sport even if it comes at the cost of entertainment. That is my true feeling of it because I’m a car owner, Dale, that spends tens of millions of dollars. And do I really want my drivers decided by—. Because someone’s out there is being a clown and is just wrecking everyone in sight. No, you eventually have to have guard rails.”

“And he can still be the polarizing person outside the car and still make the great moves and show off his drive. There’s still ways to be polarizing without being a clown.”

Earnhardt later added, “Somehow, someway he’s not accepting whatever advice may be coming his way from you, from anyone. And he’s empowered by either NASCAR, their promotion of him, his social media, his friends, his circle. He’s empowered by whatever they’re saying, ‘Don’t change. Keep being yourself.’ Whatever that is, he’s continuing. He’s like, ‘I’m just going to do what I’m going to do.'”

“But I think it’s going to have to be either his ownership group, his team, which he loves and trusts, and he listens to them. If they say, ‘Hey, man, stop X,Y, and Z.’ He will do it. Or he’s going to have to kind of go through some rough weekends on the race track.”

NEXT: Denny Hamlin Admits He Is “Mentally Drained” From His NASCAR Chase Struggles

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Author: John Trent