Andrew Ravens Tue, November 3, 2026 at 6:45 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kevin Harvick says what Carson Hocevar did to Austin Cindric at Martinsville is something he saved for his worst enemies, and he has used a brake check himself.
Harvick talked about the incident on this week's episode of SPEED with Harvick and Buxton , a Fox motorsports podcast. He compared it to a right-rear hook, a move NASCAR has punished with suspensions in the past.
"Yeah, usually you hold that for your worst enemies," Harvick said. "Been there, done that with the brake-check thing."
Harvick said he went back and watched the video. He said Cindric had not done much to Hocevar beforehand.
"There wasn't a lot of contact from the 2 car, leaning on the back bumper. And then you saw what he did to Austin Cindric and the three or four brake-checks," Harvick said.
"I think when you look at it from a NASCAR standpoint, it's detrimental to the way that you want to see things race and probably falls into the right-rear hook category," he added.
"That's the dirtiest of dirty tricks that you can possibly use on the racetrack," Harvick said. He also said Hocevar's own spotter "was aggravated" and was "trying to tell him to move on and start racing again."
On NASCAR's Inside the Race , Steve Letarte and Jamie McMurray broke down the SMT data from Hocevar's car.
"You're going to see him come to the bottom and you're going to see the stomp on the brakes. That is 1,000 pounds of brake pressure on the 77 car," Letarte said.
"That is as simple as driving down I-77 and stomping on the brakes," he added.
McMurray said the hit came so fast that Cindric could barely react.
"The max pressure is the same as what you saw on entry. So it's all that Carson can give it," McMurray said. "If you're in the 2's position, it happens so quick, you almost can't defend against it."
"The evidence for me is 100% clear," Letarte said. McMurray agreed, saying "there's no denying it because of the data we have on the car."
McMurray also said he understands why drivers do not admit to it. "I think there could be some consequences that come from it," he said.
Hocevar has said it was just Martinsville. Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett did not accept that answer on the NBC broadcast.
Harvick retired from Cup after 2023 and was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in May. He now works as a Fox analyst and co-owns the zMAX CARS Tour, a short-track late model series.
NASCAR had not announced a decision on Hocevar as of Tuesday morning. The weekly penalty report usually comes out midweek, ahead of Sunday's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Source: Sports
