Monday Morning Pit-Stop is a weekly NASCAR column that runs on OutKick.com and Fox News Digital. If you’re looking for a normal NASCAR recap, go check out insufferable ESPN … assuming they still know NASCAR exists.
I tell you what, if NASCAR’s big idea to stay relevant during the fall is to just start throwing punches every weekend …
I think I’m in. It’s not the worst idea in the world. Frankly, it just might work.
That’s right. Another weekend, another viral fight in the racing world. This one didn’t take place during a Cup race, but it did involve a NASCAR driver. Heck, it involved a NASCAR winner!
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Wait till you see this beatdown poor Corey Heim took at Martinsville Saturday night. Just a brutal attack. And right in front of a hot dog stand, no less!
Disgusting stuff. You’ll see.
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 67 Mobil 1/O’Reilly Auto Parts Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado on June 21, 2026, in San Diego, Calif. (Getty Images)
As for the NASCAR Cup Series …
Kyle Larson won at Kansas in a race that featured a handful of green flag passes for the lead, which is always a sign of a great race! At least it was a halfway decent finish.
We’ve also got more fallout from Carson Hocevar giving Ryan Blaney a black eye last weekend at Bristol, but that rivalry is pretty much dead on arrival, folks. Those two spent all week basically dating each other through the media. So much for that storyline.
The good news? Carson’s already been wrecked again! I’m not sure this one was intentional, though. You’ll see.
Four tires, enough fuel to get us through the final full month of the 2026 season, and maybe a free Martinsville hot dog for poor Corey Heim … Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the ‘Grown Men Acting Like a Bunch Of Weiners’ edition — is LIVE!
Corey Heim attacked by a hot dog stand
So, this is the wreck that everyone and their mother is talking about from this past weekend.
Corey Heim — who won Cup races at San Diego and Indy this season — was racing in a late model event in Martinsville. He battled hard over the final few laps as folks tend to do at Martinsville, and got into Treyten Lapcevich after the checkered flag.
And by “got into,” I mean … well, he went up the track, spun Lapcevich, and promptly went airborne over his hood.
Lordy. What a wreck!
You don’t see that very often in Martinsville. But, this is also a late model race. These ain’t your modern day NASCAR stock cars. They’re actually way better, but that’s a story for another time.
Bubba Wallace gives Corey Heim a congratulatory hug in victory lane after the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind., on July 26, 2026. (Getty Images)
Anyway, this was a big race. A big event. The ValleyStar Credit Union 300 is often described as the Daytona 500 for these drivers. It’s been around for over five decades. It’s a big deal.
Emotions were running HOT after this race, especially after Heim parked himself on Lapcevich’s hood.
One thing led to another, and, as Corey was trying to cool off with a nice, Martinsville hot dog … he started eating helmets and fists:
Corey Heim eats a couple punches, but why?
Goodness gracious. What a fight! Well, it wasn’t really a fight. Like last weekend’s “fight” between Hocevar and Blaney, this “fight” was really just one person(s) beating the hell out of another.
It was pretty lopsided. Corey just ate punch after punch. He had a helmet, and didn’t even use it! Again, all of this right in front of the famous Martinsville hot dog shack.
Disgusting.
PS: Ever had a Martinsville hot dog? Amazing. No, they’re not regular hot dogs. The first time I saw one, I was floored. They’re these tiny, little, bright red hot dogs and buddy, they will change your life. And I’m not even a big hot dog guy.
Anyway, back to Corey …
“Solid effort, but at least make it count next time,” Heim said via his X account on Saturday, with an accompanying picture of him looking completely normal.
Well done, Corey. Solid response.
As for the fight …
Heim was clearly in the wrong … on the track. I don’t know exactly what he was doing after the checkered flag, but it’s tough to pin any of that on Treyten Lapcevich.
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 67 Field & Stream Toyota, poses with Taylor Reimer and crew chief Robert “Bootie” Barker at the yard of bricks after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26, 2026, in Indianapolis, Ind. (Getty Images)
That being said, it’s a pretty embarrassing look for the Chad Bryant Racing team — including Chad Bryant himself — to just gang up on a kid and start beating the piss out of him when he clearly has no intention of fighting back.
Now, why didn’t he fight back, you might ask? I would assume because A) he’s got a full-time Cup ride with 23XI lined up for next season, and B) he was wearing a 23XI firesuit.
Would Michael Jordan really care that much if one of his future drivers defended himself? I doubt it. He’d probably prefer it. But, Corey wasn’t gonna take that chance.
That’s my guess.
Dale Earnhardt Jr … thoughts on this?
Larson, Blaney & Carson, oh my!
“The thing of it is, those are some damn good hotdogs,” Junior tweeted out Saturday night.
Couldn’t agree more, brother! It’s important to keep things in perspective. Thanks, Dale.
OK, let’s put the pedal to the floor and kick this thing into high gear on this final Monday of September. First up? We DID have a NASCAR Cup Series race this weekend, and it was the Kyle Larson show.
Larson led 235 of the 267 laps, scored 76 points on the day, and is now your Chase leader with six races to go.
Yeah, Chase Briscoe briefly took the lead late in the race, but it was never going to hold up. Larson was, by far, the most dominant car yesterday. Barring a freak wreck, he was always going to win — mainly because it’s nearly impossible to pass in these cars.
Speaking of wrecks … let’s go ahead and check in on Carson Hocevar!
Eh. I don’t know. The announcers try to make it sound like Brad Keselowski did it on purpose, but I don’t see that. Yes, Brad is going to wreck Carson this season after what happened a few weeks ago. It’s gonna happen. He said as much.
But not like that.
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Brad Keselowski is a vet. He’s not gonna wreck someone intentionally and put others cars in peril. That took out a ton of drivers. It wasn’t payback. It was Brad getting Carson loose right in the middle of the pack on a restart. Bad recipe. But not a nefarious one.
Finally … while we’re talking about Carson Hocevar … it appears last weekend’s fight with Ryan Blaney was a one-off, because these two fellas couldn’t have been nicer to each other this week.
Frankly, it was a bit much:
Blaney admitting defeat — “I went over there and I got my a– kicked” — and Hocevar in turn talking about how much of a “stand-up guy” Blaney is doesn’t exactly scream RIVALRY!
So, yeah, this one is dead, folks.
Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 WABASH Ford, get into an altercation after the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19, 2026, in Bristol, Tenn. (Getty Images)
Blaney went on Denny Hamlin’s podcast and talked about eating “two-piece,” and Hocevar spent 10 minutes in the media center this weekend talking about how much he respected him.
We can go ahead and put a bow on this one. It was fun while it lasted, though!
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OK, that’s it for today. Good work, everyone. Let’s have a big week and end September with a bang.
Here’s Carson’s TikTok girlfriend, Tabitha Swatosh, sending the HATERS a postcard from Italy on the way out.
See y’all at Vegas.