Carson Ware explains beef with Carson Hocevar after United Rentals 300 at Daytona

Following the United Rentals 300 at Daytona on Saturday night, Carson Ware got into it with Carson Hocevar. He was upset that Hocevar had banged into his car after the checkered flag.

Ware got into Hocevar’s face and had some choice words, explaining to the Cup Series driver that not everyone can afford to just trash racecars on a whim. He explained the confrontation to TSJ Sports’ Noah Lewis, who caught the exchange between the two drivers on video.

“Yeah, so once the race was over and we took the checkered flag I was just kind of coasting back down to pit road,” Ware told Lewis. “I’m cool with people flipping me off, I’ve got thick skin. That’s fine with me. But I was just really displeased with Hocevar dooring our racecar and tearing up stuff after the race. Our guys at Barrett-Cope work really hard and they put a lot of hours into this stuff. I was just sticking up for my guys.”

.@carsonreedware explains why he was so frustrated with @CarsonHocevar after the checkered flag. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/MCeLaFLy0t

— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) February 15, 2026

Carson Hocevar was relatively flippant when Ware explained that not everyone has the kind of money he’s privileged to as a Cup Series driver. That didn’t seem to surprise Ware much, as he walked off and opted to let cooler heads prevail.

“Like I said, you can call me names, flip me off, do whatever,” Ware said. “That’s cool, I get it, everybody has emotions. But when we start tearing up racecars after the checkered flag, that’s just something I’m not cool with.”

The conflict between the two developed on the final stretch of the race. A late caution came out with five laps to go, meaning the finish was a two-lap affair, essentially a green-and-white checkered scenario, though it wasn’t officially an overtime shootout.

Carson Hocevar seemed to get upset when Ware went slowly in front of him, wanting to get around him. Hocevar’s team told him not to to avoid a penalty.

“I think he was frustrated that we didn’t get going,” Ware said. “But I let the 88 and another guy in front of me, because they understood and saw that I was kind of lagging back. It’s a green-and-white checkered at Daytona, so we’ve seen what happens, right? I don’t know why he just didn’t get around. He’d done it earlier on in the race, right, when we were lagging back. I don’t know. He said that’s what he was frustrated over.”

In the end, Carson Hocevar finished one spot behind Ware. Ware took 19th, unofficially, while Hocevar finished 20th.