What happened
On Lap 183 at Talladega, Carson Hocevar pushed Joey Logano through the tri-oval while Logano ran 4th behind Ross Chastain in the outside lane. The lane stacked up, and the contact sent Logano into the outside wall, ending the No. 22 Team Penske entry’s bid for the win.
Hocevar said he had been watching his mirror and looked ahead after feeling a bump. He also said he had been looking left and checking his mirror to decide which lane to merge into. He described the top and bottom lanes trying to merge toward the middle as he checked traffic. He acknowledged hitting Logano’s rear bumper at the wrong moment and accepted responsibility for spinning him: “that’s my fault.”
What it cost
Logano’s race ended after 183 laps, with NASCAR classifying him 34th. From 4th before the crash, he lost 30 positions.
What could have been done differently
Hocevar needed to watch Logano while applying the push and release the pressure as the outside lane compressed. Watching the mirror left him reacting to contact instead of adjusting to the car ahead. The stack-up behind Chastain demanded room for Logano to respond.
Their earlier drafting supplied the alternative: push on corner exit, then release the car ahead before corner entry. Logano said Hocevar had been doing that without unsettling his car. Hocevar should have preserved that timing and given Logano room through the tri-oval before renewing the push.