Spire Motorsports’ young prodigy, Carson Hocevar, didn’t have the best of races on Sunday at Chicago when he caused a pile-up on lap 3, damaging multiple winning hopes, including his own. He did have some good wins back-to-back in mid-May, which were then followed by the unfortunate Mexico controversy in June. Since then, Hocevar has been reflecting on what racing means to him and eyes a comeback that will bring his fans’ attention back to what he does best – racing.

Hocevar definitely does not want to be the guy people think he is, post the Mexico incident. We saw him immediately apologizing on social media for the comments he made on his stream, and taking complete ownership of the matter. That’s a sign of maturity seen in the 22-year-old, something that is recognized even by veterans like Dale Jr. While chatting with the latter, who’s also his idol, Hocevar opened up about the expectations he has for himself and his attitude towards his racing career.

Carson is self-introspective with high aspirations

Carson took a break from his Twitch streaming post his defamatory comments on Mexico. His self-introspection was seen when he commented on the reason for the same. “Obviously I made that mistake of saying that stuff and I was just like, yeah okay I’ll take a break…just give me two weeks…three weeks, you know, let me have some time to reflect on it and we’ll get going again,” said Hocevar on the Dale Jr Download podcast. A top-10 finish in the Atlanta race in July probably made him see the good side of things, which saw him return to the platform.

But Hocevar loves what he does – be it streaming or racing. He wouldn’t do any of it if he didn’t. He is someone who wants to be proud of the person he sees in the mirror. Growing up watching his idols, including Dale Jr, he wanted to be not like them, but the way they too wanted to be for themselves.

“I wanted to be a fan of me, right? Like I wanted to be the person I am today and, you know, look back and just be like the kid I would be a fan of me watching, if that makes sense.” Hocevar said on the podcast.

Driving since the age of seven, Hocevar realized the importance of opportunities early in his career. He has never missed out on one and always has the hunger for more. He also acknowledged the pressure of expectations that they bring along with them. He gave Dale an example to explain how it’s easier for him when he doesn’t have big shoes to fill in: “The first time I got in a cup car, it was like, ‘you’re going to run 30, you’re gonna have to learn to get out of the way,’ like, that was the most easiest I was ever going into a race. I had more pressure driving your Xfinity car than that Cup car.”

There are two kinds of people – the ones who give their all without regrets, or the ones who miss out in the moment and regret later. Hocevar emphasizes how he’s the first kind and is hopeful that he’s going to reach his best very soon. “Every race is an opportunity. You never know when the last one is. And when you’re done, no matter if it’s 20 years from now, you’re always gonna look back and just be like, man, I think I could have won this one if I tried harder, or just knew this then. So, I just try and speed up that timeline.”

With such ambitious dreams, it will be interesting to see the young driver find his key to more wins, just like he found the key to the winning philosophy.

Reactions to Hocevar’s Chicago pile up

The pile-up caused on lap 3 at Chicago by Hocevar last weekend didn’t affect him that much, as he took the joke on himself by tweeting about it the next day. However, it certainly outraged Austin Dillon, who was the first one to face his spinning crash. He was heard on the radio saying, “Carson Hocevar is the biggest dumb*** in the entire sport… Wiped into (Turn) 10 and just wiped up just half of the field.”

Brad Keselowski was another one who received the DNF. Though his frustration was very visible after the crash, he had a more measured reaction afterwards: “Wrong spot, wrong time. The 77 (Hocevar) spun out, blocked the track, and I was gonna get stopped, to not hit him, or if I were gonna hit him, it would be very light. Then three cars came in from behind and blasted us.”

Apart from them, Will Brown and Todd Gilliland were also eliminated from the race. With already gaining enemies in his pocket in his early years, Hocevar will certainly have to pull off some kinder turns on the tracks to make things cool.