NASCAR’s 2025 Cup season has been a grab bag of firsts and bold moves, inking deals with Amazon Prime and TNT Sports, even stamping its passport for the points race in Mexico City. But all that noise has been drowned out by the NFL’s megaphone, whose stronghold on American viewership makes everything else look like background static. And according to the numbers, not many fans are interested in seeing Team Penske’s dominance or Denny Hamlin’s aggression. But why is that the case? Carson Hocevar answers just that.

It is no secret that NASCAR has been working to eradicate these issues. From promises about returning to a full points playoff system to Brad Keselowski hinting at NASCAR increasing horsepower—an issue that has been voiced more than once this season—NASCAR is set to gain its viewers back. The 22-year-old didn’t hesitate to point fingers at the audience, blaming them for not “caring enough.” 

Speaking to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, Hocevar gets real about the approach towards NASCAR: “Ultimately, people just need to care. Attendance at the track has been good, but TV numbers aren’t. People blame ‘society’ (for less viewers), but football still gets watched. It needs more prestige. F1 racing isn’t great, but the prestige is very high, and it’s very traditional.” 

And Carson Hocevar is right in pointing out the dip in the TV ratings. USA Network’s trip to New Hampshire turned into a rating bellyflop, even though it reached full capacity, with a sold-out crowd in the grandstands.

The broadcast pulled just a 0.70 rating with 1.29 million viewers, a sharp slide from last year’s 1.0 rating and 1.88 million eyeballs, marking a 13% nosedive. However, the slump didn’t stop. Kansas followed suit, dipping from 1.8 million viewers last season to 1.49 million this year. Meanwhile, overall in football land, the NFL is flexing like a heavyweight champ.

Disney, FOX, and Amazon Prime are all riding the pigskin wave with booming audiences, while NASCAR’s numbers keep spinning their wheels. Nielsen reports the NFL viewership at its highest since 2015, pulling in a monstrous 17.5 million fans per game, and an audience NASCAR would kill to even sniff at.

However, this isn’t the only issue the Spire Motorsports driver points to. The 22-year-old added, “A full-season points format would help. That’s a start. Or a lot closer to one. Right now, it feels like the whole sport is in a finger-pointing challenge: the networks, teams, drivers, NASCAR — everyone’s fighting for their margin of it while the total pool of funds gets smaller. As you’re bleeding, you’re not (addressing) the wound, you’re just wanting to blame who caused the wound. But you’re still losing blood.”

With Dale Jr. hopeful for the return to the Golden Era next year, most drivers, including Christopher Bell, urge NASCAR to return to the 36-point race format. With Mike Forde assuring fans a massive change (dropping the current playoff system), NASCAR could be seeing itself retaining the pre-2004 playoff system.

With official announcements dropping after the season finale at Phoenix on November 2, NASCAR seems to have solved one piece of the puzzle. However, amid all this talk about tackling the problem NASCAR is facing, the No. 77 driver finds himself stuck in one himself.

Carson Hocevar is set to pay the price after endangering safety workers in Kansas

Carson Hocevar’s wallet just got $50,000 lighter. NASCAR slapped the Spire Motorsports sophomore with a hefty behavioral fine this week after a wild string of incidents capped off by one ill-timed burnout attempt at Kansas Speedway.

The chaos unfolded late in Sunday’s Cup race when Hocevar spun down the backstretch and sat stranded on four flat tires. Safety workers rushed in, but instead of waiting patiently, Carson dropped the hammer, revving the engine and spinning his wheels in an effort to get rolling. NASCAR says that the risky move put track workers in harm’s way, and the sanctioning body wasn’t about to let it slide.

This isn’t the 22-year-old’s first run with a $50K penalty, either. Earlier this season, his own team fined him the same amount after a PR fiasco during NASCAR’s inaugural trip to Mexico City. And now, as the Round of 12 reaches its last leg, all eyes will be on Hocevar to see how he bounces back and avoids these mistakes in the future.