NASCAR insider Tommy Baldwin believes that Carson Hocevar's Cup Series rivals have had enough of him driving like a 'f*****g lunatic'.
Baldwin made the comments in light of Hocevar being involved in another wreck this past Sunday, when he and Zane Smith got tangled up in to turn two at Chicagoland Speedway.
This time, Hocevar was ahead of Smith, with the pair battling for 17th place when Smith got right into the back of him going through the corner, turning Hocevar and himself around and causing both to crash into the wall. In the end, Hocevar finished the race in 22nd, while Zane Smith ended up 28th.
In isolation, the incident was no fault of Hocevar's, but Baldwin says that wrecks like this happen because of how Hocevar conducts himself on the track.
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Tommy Baldwin on Carson Hocevar-Zane Smith wreck
“Look, I hate talking about the 77,” Baldwin said on this week's episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast. “I really do."
Baldwin was then quizzed on what Hocevar had done in this specific instance to be wrecked, and he didn’t hold back.
“Because he’s driving like a f*****g lunatic in the beginning of the race, man,” he continued. “Just bouncing off everybody, moving everybody.
“They’ve had enough. I’m telling you, they’ve had enough, right? And even his post, right? He’s like, ‘Well, we didn’t qualify very good. I hope we run good.’
“I mean, by the time lap 30, there’s nothing left of his car to go fast. It’s like, all right, the 38 got into him, and obviously it ruined the 38’s night. He didn’t run very good after that, and they’ve been good all year.
“So, it’s just like people are tired of it, man.”
Baldwin: When Hocevar runs clean, he gets good results
Baldwin continued, pointing to the strong finishes that Hocevar has had this year, and the correlation between them and the driver running a cleaner race.
"I mean, look at the great finishes that he's had this year, he drove clean races, right?" Baldwin argued.
"We said it, well, he didn't run into anybody, oh, guess what? He ran good, right?
"It's just like a certain amount of people out there they just don't get it man, they just think they need to do all this.
"It just drives me crazy."
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