As has become custom this season, Carson Hocevar is once again at the centre of conversations between races, and as always, opinions are split. At Bristol, after his brawl with Ryan Blaney, the crowd cheered on the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet driver while the No. 12 Team Penske Ford driver was booed off.
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While fans are loving what Hocevar has been doing, be it the overtly aggressive moves on track, the social media banter, or even the announcements of discount percentages based on the number of whichever driver he’s beefing with. But leading voices not just around NASCAR but motorsports in general have had enough of the lack of respect Hocevar has been showing to his fellow drivers.
Former IndyCar driver Marco Andretti was one such voice who is simply done with Hocevar. Andretti took to X and shared a picture from the Hocevar-Blaney brawl and wrote, “Can’t even watch anymore. Just have to wait for the posts on who he took out each week. Getting old to me.”
At Bristol it was Blaney, and Hocevar put a 12 per cent discount on his merchandise. At Darlington two weeks back, it was RFK Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski, and the Spire driver announced a six percent discount for the No. 6 Ford driver. And these are just two incidents in the past three weeks that Hocevar has been involved in.
What Andretti was pointing to goes way beyond just the start of the Chase; it’s the season-long story. Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski are the most recent victims. But several other incidents throughout the season have left drivers warning Hocevar that he shouldn’t be making enemies on the grid.
Hocevar has already experienced what it is like to have an enemy. At Chicagoland, Zane Smith took himself and the Spire driver out on Lap 32 as payback for an incident in Iowa last season when Hocevar took out the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 driver.
Before that, 23XI’s Bubba Wallace had tried explaining to Hocevar that aggression doesn’t always lead to the best results. In Michigan, on a restart on Lap 83, Hocevar tried to get out of his line and make a pass but clipped Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek and spun him out, causing a nine-car pile-up involving Wallace, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and several others.
Wallace was the only driver to speak to Hocevar after the race and explained that he’s fast but doesn’t need to make those moves. On the Bussin with the Boys podcast, Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson had called Hocevar a child for his antics on and off track.
Larson was one of several drivers who called out Hocevar for doing things simply for the sake of content. Zane Smith was another, who on a different episode of the same podcast said that Hocevar behaves very differently with drivers in person and on social media.
Joey Logano was one of the few drivers who actually praised Hocevar and what he brings to the sport. Logano had replaced Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hours podcast and said that he appreciates the uniqueness of how Hocevar drives.
However, on that same podcast, Logano also outlined that while being entertaining is good, the kind of moves that Hocevar makes is what is preventing him from being a winner. Logano explained that Hocevar struggles to create momentum for a race win with his run-ins with rivals on track.
Both Blaney and Hocevar still have an outside chance of winning it all. Blaney is 52 points back in 6th, and Hocevar is 85 points back in 8th. A couple of wins could change the face of each driver’s title challenge.
But if this incident with Hocevar proves to derail Blaney’s championship hopes, we might see more drama on and perhaps off the track as well. Brad Keselowski may not have followed through on his threats from Darlington just yet. But if the No. 6 and No. 12 Ford drivers want payback, Hocevar will need to tread carefully when he sees either Ford in his mirror.