NASCAR Cup Series star hit with devastating penalty at Pocono

NASCAR Cup Series star Carson Hocevar had a potential win snatched away from him late on Friday.

The controversial young driver was racing in Friday's Truck Series race at Pocano ahead of Saturday's Cup Series qualifying, and looked well positioned to make a run at the win in the final stage.

However, with just under 20 laps of the Tricky Triangle to go there was some late drama when leader Corey Heim suffered a flat right rear tyre while under caution for a separate incident.

Heim pulled out of the pack and let the rest of the field pass, which – as noted by Kevin Harvick on the broadcast in real time – made Layne Riggs on the inside the control car for the restart.

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Hocevar slams 'joke' penalty

Hocevar, however, interpreted the rules differently (read: incorrectly) and took it upon himself to lead the field away at the green flag, a decision which saw him black flagged for a restart violation.

That effectively ended his chances of winning the race, especially with no further cautions thrown, although he did fight back to finish a broadly meaningless 13th.

The 22-year-old fumed on team radio after the decision, calling it a 'joke' and calling out series chief Seth Kramlich, sarcastically saying 'good job Seth'.

“Should have won,” he continued. “Can’t help that somebody doesn’t know the rules.”

Unfortunately, it appears that despite his obvious irritation, that somebody was him.

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