Carson Hocevar has dismissed speculation surrounding his race-ending incident with Austin Cindric after the pair were involved in a collision at Martinsville.

Just over 200 laps into the race, Cindric was battling Hocevar for position during the Xfinity 500 when the Spire Motorsports driver appeared to brake-check him repeatedly, doing so at least three times. The contact caused significant damage to the front bumper of Cindric's No. 2 Team Penske Ford, forcing him into the garage and ending his race in 36th place. Hocevar, meanwhile, continued and finished 21st.

After the race, Hocevar was asked by NBC to explain what had happened. "No, I don't know, I got lost there for a second," he replied before turning his attention to his race and the adjustments made to his No. 77 car.

When pressed on whether the move was deliberate, Hocevar added: "No, I mean, I got full throttled here in the spring and I just think it's Martinsville. I had a lot of fun and I think me and Austin have raced each other really well, or at least I've been pointed him by a lot -- his cars have been really fast. So, no, I just think that's just Martinsville and I think we were just having fun."

During a later media session, Hocevar again played down the incident, describing it as part of short-track racing at Martinsville. He said: "Sometimes you're getting hit, sometimes you're causing it."

The 23-year-old went on to say: "I just felt like it was normal Martinsville racing. Everybody's trying to move people. I think he [Cindric] was on the lead lap, I was maybe one down. Everybody's going to be hitting behind him, and everybody's going to be hitting behind me, and I'm going to try and move people too. It's just tough on the restarts and whatnot."

Cindric offered a brief reaction over his team radio, questioning NASCAR's handling of the incident and accusing Hocevar of deliberately using his car against him. "NASCAR, what are we doing? Like, we're just weaponizing cars here. I stack on entry with the guy and he has a mental breakdown," he said.

Onboard and other footage appeared to show Hocevar braking repeatedly on the straight in front of Cindric. His own spotter also urged him to move on, saying over the radio: "Okay, just go please, just go."

Hocevar was also involved in another major controversy earlier in the race, with several rivals questioning whether he had deliberately spun himself out. Just a few laps before the incident with Cindric, the Spire Motorsports driver brought out a race-altering caution during green-flag pit stops.

On Lap 198, Hocevar was being lapped by race leader William Byron when he slid up the track and spun, triggering an immediate reaction from several drivers over their team radios. The suspicions were heightened by Hocevar's previous history of deliberately spinning his car, prompting further questions about whether the latest incident was intentional.

During a post-race media scrum, he was asked to respond to the accusations. "I mean, they can come drive it," said Hocevar. "I was driving really hard to try and stay next to or in front of the 24 [Byron] ... I just got into the marbles with a corded right rear, there was no saving it. I was just trying really hard, but they can come and drive it if they want."