Carson Hocevar was on top of the world in April. He had just become a Cup Series winner at Talladega, showing why Spire Motorsports handed him a long-term deal before the season even began. He was performing at a high level, had sponsors knocking on his door, and was dazzling on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York. NASCAR seemed to have its newest star. But when success gets in the way of focus, the fall can come just as quickly. That’s the warning Kevin Harvick had for Hocevar on a recent episode of his Happy Hour podcast.

“A lot of times when you see a young driver that gets a lot of attention, had some success, wins a race, everybody’s like, ‘Hey, you should do this. Hey, you should do that. Get a TikTok girlfriend,’” Harvick said, addressing the No. 77 driver’s recent slump that has seen him plummet in the standings heading into the Chase.

Just a few weeks ago, Hocevar finished ninth in the Brickyard 400, earning 40 valuable points and sitting fifth in the standings. Since then, he has finished 31st in Iowa, 37th in Richmond, and 19th at New Hampshire last Sunday, with the latest result arguably being the most concerning of them all.

Hocevar spun three times during the Dollar Tree 301, with his first incident coming before green-flag racing had even begun. His driving looked increasingly erratic as the race unfolded, including contact with Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch. Then, a late spin with no one around left him a lap down at the finish behind winner Ryan Blaney. Harvick, looking back, cannot help but feel that the driver is distracted.

He, like many garage insiders, has recognized the raw talent Hocevar possesses. He feels that the Spire Motorsports driver can achieve great things in the future if he simply focuses on racing. But that’s the part he seems to have forgotten of late, and at a horrible time too, as these three races have dropped him from fifth in the standings all the way to 11th.

“No one cares if your car is not fast. It does not matter if you don’t have the results. They will forget about you in weeks,” Harvick added in the Happy Hour podcast.

The former Cup Series champion used the “TikTok girlfriend” example to highlight the heavily publicized—although still unofficial—relationship between the Spire driver and influencer Tabitha Swatosh. The two have walked the red carpet together, been spotted hanging out in public, and Swatosh attended the Brickyard 400. Spire even designed a car with an “ILY” sticker that may have been aimed at her. But Swatosh has recently been heavily involved in conversations within the NASCAR community because of a video she released on her social media related to the sport.

Swatosh appears to be applying makeup while explaining the sport to her 15 million followers. She has also posted a video in the past, with the theme of ‘Get ready with me to go on a date with a NASCAR driver.’ For Harvick, this is a distraction.

“That’s the way it looks on the racetrack. So things. I don’t mean to be a je**, but sometimes that can be things,” he added.

Harvick isn’t the first person to call Hocevar’s relationship with Swatosh out either. After New Hampshire, even Denny Hamlin joked that the best thing to come out of the No. 77 team’s camp over the last few weeks has been Swatosh’s tutorial. Hocevar may disagree and have some things to say about these comments in the coming days. But he cannot deny that his results have gone for a toss.

High time for Carson Hocevar to get back to his groove

Hocevar’s unfiltered interviews, social media rants, and the confidence he oozes made him a fan-favorite, especially among those who were missing the larger-than-life personalities among Cup Series drivers. Till the time he was backing it up with results, all was well. He cannot say that heading into the Chase.

By slipping down to 11th, he’s already lost a lot of advantage ahead of the impending points reset that comes with the Chase. He has a chance to recover, but for that, he needs a flawless Coke Zero Sugar 400 race in Daytona next weekend — most importantly, without any incidents.

Hocevar, even when not performing at his best, has managed to stay in the limelight because of his incidents with other drivers. He clashed with the likes of Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell early in the season, flipped Corey Heim off at Indianapolis, and started a feud with Zilisch in New Hampshire, accusing the driver of intentionally wrecking him.

However, he showed some self-reflection after the Zilisch incident at Loudon. He accepted blame and humbly stated that he had “ruined another weekend” for Spire. So, heading into Daytona, a change in approach from his hyper-aggressive racing style may be the answer.

Hocevar finished 18th in the Daytona 500 season opener but has shown good pace on superspeedways overall. He won at Talladega and also finished fourth at Atlanta. A similar result, coupled with poor finishes from those ahead of him, could help Hocevar climb the standings heading into the Chase.

Ultimately, Hocevar has already shown that he has the talent to be a star, but now the results need to do the talking. With the Chase approaching, getting back to racing and away from the distractions around him could be the key to turning his season around.