Zane Smith voiced his frustrations toward Carson Hocevar, calling him “dumb.” The 26-year-old NASCAR driver said he can’t speak directly with his former Spire Motorsports teammate, as doing so could result in a $75,000 fine.The issue stemmed from their incident at Iowa Speedway last week, though Zane Smith pointed out that Carson Hocevar has long had a reputation in the NASCAR garage for being an “idiot.” On lap 229, Smith was running the outside line when Hocevar got loose and forced him into the wall.Although Smith managed to return to the race, he was several laps down and effectively out of contention. Speaking about the #77 Spire Motorsports driver, Smith told NASCAR (via Zach Sturniolo on X)“I personally can’t go have a conversation with him without getting a $75,000 fine. Yeah, he’s just a dumb [expletive]. That’s just how it is.”The #38 Front Row Motorsports driver added:“I think that the media feeds into him trying to play this like, ‘Intimidator’ role, but then he’ll act like he’s your buddy, and then just be an idiot on social media. I was teammates with him, and everyone at that race shop, everyone in this garage, realizes he’s an idiot.”Zane Smith's 36th-place finish at Iowa follows a string of crashes from previous race weekends at Sonoma, Dover, and Indianapolis. According to his crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, the incidents cost the #38 team an estimated 51 points, noting that the driver was typically running around the top 10 before spinning out.Smith will return to action at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. He will start in 34th place between his FRM teammates Todd Gilliland (28th) and Noah Gragson (36th). Ryan Blaney will lead the field to green ahead of Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Briscoe, respectively.“It’s been a really hard month emotionally”: Zane Smith's crew chief on his results in recent racesRyan Bergenty spoke about the disappointing stretch Zane Smith has been having in the past month. Bergenty, who confronted Carson Hocevar after the race at Iowa Speedway, said it's been a hard month emotionally for the 26-year-old driver.The #38 Front Row Motorsports crew said (via NASCAR):“We’re coming off a month of not good finishes at the disposal of other things. But I can argue that I felt we should have been running top 12 in the last 20% of all those races. So it’s been a really hard month emotionally, but he’s kept his head in a good place.”Zane Smith's last strong race result was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway last June after coming home in seventh. Since then, he has usually finished outside the top 20 due to on-track crashes. Smith currently ranks 27th in the points standings with one pole position (Talladega Superspeedway) and three top-10 finishes. This year marks his first season at Front Row Motorsports following a one-year stint at Spire Motorsports.The 26-year-old swapped seats with Michael McDowell, albeit not directly. Noah Gragson initially took over McDowell's car at FRM before the team tapped Smith to drive its new third car.