Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spoke with Carson Hocevar, not in favor of having rivalry 'for running 15th' after Nashville incident

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was anticipating a phone call from Carson Hocevar after the Spire Motorsports driver wrecked him on Lap 106 of this past Sunday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway. Earlier this week, Hocevar revealed he texted with Stenhouse.

Stenhouse said Friday that the two have since spoken on the phone, and he appreciates Hocevar reaching out. Stenhouse got a feel for what Hocevar was thinking in the moment, though it doesn’t change the fact that he ultimately took Stenhouse out of the race. As for a creating a new rivalry, Stenhouse isn’t interested in having one “running for 15th.”

☎️ "After Carson called me this week, I definitely see where he was thinking."

Ricky @StenhouseJr addresses last Sunday's incident with @CarsonHocevar leading into @MISpeedway this weekend. #NASCAR

More from the @HYAKMotorsports driver → https://t.co/MKhd9eLpQA pic.twitter.com/gF42JSUgpT

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) June 6, 2025

“After Carson called me this week, I definitely see where he was thinking that he could get to the inside of me before we turned down in the corner. Problem was he didn’t. He had committed thinking he was going to and unfortunately, he just misjudged it and ran right into the back of us,” Stenhouse said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Carson and I hadn’t had any issues before. I appreciate him reaching out and explaining what his thought process was. It doesn’t change that our NOS Energy Camaro was in the garage at the end of the race, which was unfortunate.

“We were on a pretty solid roll of just getting solid finishes and keeping ourselves in the points. Kind of like I told Carson, I don’t mind a good rivalry, but I don’t want a rivalry for running 15th. Like, if we’re battling for wins and in the top five week in and week out, that’s great. But having a rivalry not competing for wins is kind of difficult. Kind of takes away from the focus of what we’re trying to do at Hyak which is trying to get ourselves back in the points standings and into the playoffs.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moving forward after run-in with Carson Hocevar at Nashville

The on-track incident changed a lot for Stenhouse. He entered the race 13th in the points standings. Stenhouse had been doing a phenomenal job at a single-car team. Now, he’s 18th, one spot below Hocevar, who scored a P2 finish at Nashville. Just like that, Stenhouse is below the playoff cutline.

Stenhouse will look to regroup and get back on track this Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. The Hyak Motorsports driver has just one top-10 finish in 20 starts at Michigan.