Can you imagine garnering support for Carson Hocevar? Well, the scenario is unlikely, yet not impossible either. The Spire Motorsports sophomore has been the rabble-rouser of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. From ticking off a group of veteran drivers in Atlanta to intentionally nudging Ricky Stenhouse Jr at Nashville, Hocevar’s rowdy antics know no bounds. Yet in last weekend’s Sonoma race, the narrative flipped for Hocevar.
The No. 77 Chevrolet driver was already riding a bad streak, having gathered four dismal finishes outside the top 25 since Charlotte. However, Carson Hocevar’s ambition clashed with Josh Berry’s drive to rebound from a wreck in Chicago. What happened after the race, though, baffled experts even more.
A calculated move against Carson Hocevar?
“‘Man, of all people like to wreck me.’ I thought it would be somebody like I had it coming.” Indeed, Carson Hocevar expected names like Ricky Stenhouse Jr or Kyle Busch to come at him. However, it was Josh Berry who appeared at his side in the closing laps of the Sonoma race. Hocevar was on his way to clinch a top ten finish, until contact from Berry in Turn 2 changed everything. The bump sent the 22-year-old spinning through the grass and tumbling down the running order. He ended up in a dismal 32nd place, while Berry finished 13th. The latter admitted to his wrongdoing, but his team, on the other hand, was not so apologetic.
Wood Brothers Racing apparently did not forget Carson Hocevar‘s 2024 incident. During the Coke Zero 400 race last year, Hocevar ran into Harrison Burton’s No. 21 WBR Ford until the latter spun out. Hocevar had landed himself a $50,000 penalty for that. Hence, WBR posted a mocking response on X to Berry’s wreck: “Trying to remember if we ever got wrecked for absolutely no reason by the 77, but I’m coming up empty.” Beneath that, they attached a link to the Hocevar-Burton incident. But to remember past years’ aggression on a driver who does not even race for WBR anymore and use it to justify Josh Berry’s wreck seemed like a stretch.
That is what ‘Rubbin is Racing’ co-host Quigs said recently: “Wood Brothers put out what I think is one of the most petty f–king responses to criticism about it. I don’t know what Wood Brothers is trying to say… Yeah, that’s a little weird to me. We told Josh Berry to internalize that pain even though it wasn’t him, it was the season before. And take it out on him at the end of the f–king Sonoma race.”
The Rubbin’ is Racing host said that “there has to be something that transpired recently.” Dale Earnhardt Jr casually mentioned it in the broadcast. Quigs continued, “Dale just casually said, ‘Josh Berry just hooked Carson Hocevar’…there was no follow-up to it, I think everyone was baffled why. If it were some of the other people that Carson has had some smoke with earlier this season, it might make some sense. But I think they just chocked it up to like, ‘Ah, Carson must have done something.’ It’s kind of unfair for the kid, but to bring up the whole idea of him stupidly taking out Harrison Burton last season, I don’t know if that’s the f–king reason you wanna put up.”
Clearly, NASCAR experts are a little baffled about the Sonoma event. Nonetheless, they may be sure that Wood Brothers Racing is eager for a revival.
Counting every race weekend
Well, the Carson Hocevar incident may have been out of the blue. However, there is no doubt that 2025 is turning out to be the Wood Brothers Racing team’s redemption year. Josh Berry has established that streak of excellence, fetching WBR’s 101st victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He has only two other top tens, 4th in Phoenix and 6th in Kansas. Yet Berry is determined to continue his excellence. That is why the Chicago wreck left him gritting his teeth for Sonoma: “Getting knocked out that quickly is never how you want to end a weekend. That’s behind us now, and I’m focused on Sonoma. The team has been working really hard. And I believe we’ve got a group capable of putting together a solid run.”
Being the oldest team in the NASCAR Cup Series garage, WBR is also on a roll. The team is taking Berry’s good finishes as an incentive to revitalize itself. That is why it is celebrating 75 years’ worth of memories with “Wood Brothers Wednesdays” on The NASCAR Channel. Ahead of the Dover race, WBR is airing “Survival of the Fastest: Wood Brothers Racing — Dover”. The team has made 87 total starts at the track. David Pearson was behind the wheel, winning three consecutive races at the track between 1972 and 1973. His dominance included leading 1,011 of the 1,500 total laps raced. Overall, the Wood Brothers team has led over 297 laps at Dover six different times.
Clearly, Josh Berry will be in the spotlight again this weekend for a WBR revival. Although the previous weekend’s antics against Carson Hocevar were not so popular, maybe the Dover race will be memorable.
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