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.
And then, there were three.
That’s right. Three races left in this 2026 NASCAR season. I’d give you the usual, “Doesn’t it feel like we were just at the Daytona 500?” line, but … it doesn’t.
This is the longest season in all of sports. It’s a grind. Name another sport that starts its season in February, and ends it after Halloween. You can’t. It doesn’t exist.
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So yes, it’s a grind. These guys are GRINDING right now. They have been for eight months now, and we only have three races left to crown a champion.
After Phoenix, I’d say five guys have a legit shot at a title: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney. None of those guys won yesterday, by the way.
Nope. Tyler Reddick won yesterday at Phoenix for the first time since Kansas … back in APRIL. As I was saying (see, there’s a point to all of it!), the NASCAR Cup Series season is the longest in all of sports. I bet you forgot Tyler Reddick started the season with three straight wins, didn’t you?
Sunday’s return to Victory Lane was probably too little, too late in terms of a title, but it does give him a puncher’s chance. We’ll see.
Zane Smith talks with Carson Hocevar before qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 13. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Speaking of punching … wait till you see what Zane Smith did to Carson Hocevar after the race. Do these two HATE each other, or what?
Also, I’ve seen a lot of folks comparing modern day college football to peak NASCAR in terms of recent decision-making about playoff expansion. Some people believe college football is following the same ill-fated path NASCAR took way back in the day.
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Honestly, it’s not the worst comparison I’ve seen. We’ll dive in here in a bit.
Four tires, enough fuel to get us through three more races, and maybe a neck brace for Carson Hocevar … Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the ‘Wreckers After Checkers’ edition — is LIVE!
Zane Smith says hello to Carson!
Let’s spin the wheel and get this class started with … BEEF! We love beef around here. It’s what keeps me in a job, and what keeps this column an award-winner (allegedly).
All the beef this season has revolved around Carson Hocevar. Pretty much all of it. If there’s been an issue, Carson’s somehow been involved.
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Whether it was Ryan Blaney attacking him last month at Bristol, or Brad Keselowski vowing to wreck him after Darlington, it’s been the Garage vs. Carson in 2026. Hell, I’m not sure he even has one single ally in the entire garage. Not one.
Least of all, by the way, is Zane Smith.
Nobody — and I mean nobody — hates Carson more than Zane Smith:
This rivalry goes back a while
Lordy. You don’t see that often, do you? Zane hits the gas and absolutely plows into Carson’s backside (hey now!) … and it was all for literally no reason at all. Carson, as you can see in the first video, did nothing wrong. Nada. Zero. Zilch.
Ross Chastain got into Hocevar, which sent Hocevar up the track into Zane Smith. Clear as day.
“I don’t give a f–k,” Smith said when he was told that info after the post-race fender-bender.
Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, looks on after the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19, 2026, in Bristol, Tenn. (Getty Images)
Alllllll righty then! Clearly, this had nothing to do with the contact in the race, and everything to do with Zane Smith simply just looking for a reason to start a fight with a driver he admittedly despises.
And I mean DESPISES.
Take a look at this little clip from last summer:
“I just don’t like him as a human,” is such a simple insult. Simple, and hilarious. You have to respect that, despite who you root for on the track. Calling him a “goon” was also funny.
I may not agree with what Zane did yesterday, but I do think he’s funny. I also very much appreciate his wife, OutKick OG, McCall Gaulding.
She also hates Carson Hocevar, and has been incredibly open about it. I don’t want to get into specifics, but if you’re interested, I sort of talked about it last month after the Bristol stuff.
More importantly — at least to me — McCall’s also really good at pumping out Instagram content … like this post from last week where the second slide features McCall wearing what appears to be only a T-shirt featuring her and Zane giving the double-bird.
Patriot:
McCall Gaulding instagram. (Screenshot)
Is college football making a NASCAR-sized mistake?
Amazing. McCall has been an OutKick legend for years now — way before she became this Instagram superstar. We know how to spot talent around here, and we identified McCall early.
Clearly, she’s still got the fastball here in 2026.
Head on a swivel, Carson!
OK, let’s put the pedal to the floor and rapid-fire this third-Monday-of-October in a big Talladega week. First up? Yes, Tyler Reddick won yesterday for the first time in months. Yes, it was a season-saving win given it keeps him in the championship discussion.
No, it probably won’t be enough …
But never say never:
There you have it. The standings with three races to go, including this weekend’s Big One in Talladega. Anything can — and will — happen at ‘Dega.
What happens if Larson and Bell, Briscoe and Hamlin are all caught up in a wreck early in the race? It sort of blows the door wide open for anyone behind them, right? Again, it’s unlikely, but not completely out of the question.
This is always my favorite race of the season. I expect this weekend to be no different.
Next? On the way out, I’d like to give everyone in class some homework for the week, and it revolves around this now-viral X post in the wake of college football’s decision to move to a 24-team playoff:
NASCAR went from the second most watched sport to nothing by implementing postseason gimmicks and chasing a mainstream audience. They tried to undo it but they had their lowest ratings ever for the 2025 title race. I never thought we’d see another sport be so shortsighted.
Thoughts? First impressions?
I don’t think NASCAR’s massive ratings decline is because of the implementation of a playoff (The Chase) back in 2004. I don’t. Ratings were just fine in ’04, ’05, ’06 and ’07.
I think NASCAR had a lot working against them — a lot of it self-inflicted, and some of it not.
- The Car of Tomorrow was a disaster of epic proportions. People HATED it, and some never came back. This car ain’t much better, by the way.
- The schedule became stale, and NASCAR waited a long time to ever even tweak it.
- TV ratings in general started plummeting across the board over the decades. It was a slow decline, and then a massive one, and then NASCAR kinda-sorta steadied the ship before things started dipping again over the past two seasons.
- Here’s the list of NASCAR drivers to retire over the last 15 years: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. I’d keep going, but do I really need to? LOOK at those names.
- The virtue-signaling from the insufferable COVID summer of 2020 turned a lot of people off, rightfully so. The “noose” incident at Talladega that same year was an unfathomable error on NASCAR’s part, and one they STILL won’t talk about. Folks don’t forget crap like that, and they shouldn’t.
- College football and the NFL are at absolute peak popularities right now. They rule all. NASCAR goes directly against both for the final two months of its season, which is insanely stupid. I’ve begged them to end the season on Labor Day weekend. They refuse to listen (dummies!).
Those are just a couple things that come to mind, by the way. I’m sure y’all have more.
As always, let me know! Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.
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See ya at ‘Dega.