Carson Hocevar is a live wire. He is one of the few drivers who genuinely believes he can win a race and goes to extreme lengths in achieving his objectives. Even if it means going elbows out against Kyle Busch. During the Atlanta race, Rowdy was fuming with how he was being raced, “I don’t care if I wreck the whole f—— field, I’m over him.” Even Ross Chastain, who is considered his mentor, had a few words after he bagged his career-best P2 finish.
There were a lot of talks about how Hocevar was rubbing everyone the wrong way to gain his objectives. But, he made it clear that he wasn’t racing to make friends on Sundays, and that was the sort of mentality Dale Earnhardt had when he started racing against the star-studded garage back in 1982 when he entered as a rookie. And this similarity was even felt by Dale Jr., who has been following Hocevar’s antics on the racetrack this season.
The Spire Motorsports driver was once again in the news for making his way at Nashville Superspeedway, sending Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall on lap 106. And Jr. saw the flashes of his father in the young driver. “I think the guy reminds me of a 1979 Dale Earnhardt. Fast, not scared to use his front bumper, don’t care if somebody gets mad about it and on the verge of becoming a star.”
Well, not everyone feels the same, at least not his sister Kelley Earnhardt. During the Q&A session on Instagram, Kelley was asked which current driver races like her father, Dale Earnhardt. And without thinking twice, she replied, “No comparisons in my opinion.” Hocevar might be flying high in his #77 Chevy, but in her eyes, no one could match the Intimidator’s aura.
Although Hocevar ended Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s race early at Michigan, Jr. encouraged him to continue on this path of ruffling the feathers. This comes as a twist as after the race on the Prime Video post-race show, he talked about how the Cup garage would police the young driver if he didn’t control his antics on the racetrack. But Jr. hoped on his show, shared his honest take about Hocevar’s driving style.
February 16, 2025, Daytona Beach, Fl, USA: NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series driver, CARSON HOCEVAR 77 of Portage, MI, prepares for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL, USA. Daytona Beach USA – ZUMAa161 20250216_aaa_a161_040 Copyright: xWalterxG.xArcexSr.x
“And I say that to maybe encourage Carson to continue what he’s doing because Dale Earnhardt ended up becoming a seven-time champion. That aggressive style was something that endeared him to a lot of people. You can see a lot of people enjoy that as well, out of Carson,” Dale Jr. added.
A lot of fans were expecting fireworks after the Michigan tussle between Hocevar and Stenhouse Jr. However, in a turn of events, the young gun reached out to the Hyak Motorsports driver and cleared the misunderstanding before it could lead to a demolition derby-style race on his home ground.
Carson Hocevar reached out to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
In the aftermath of the controversy, Stenhouse Jr. stated that he had not received any texts from the Spire Motorsports driver. But just as the Cup Series was about to race at Michigan, there was a new update, and Hocevar decided to clear the air surrounding his clash from last Sunday. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, “Yeah, he wanted to have that conversation, so I just texted him to reach out or whatever. We’ll probably have that talk and see where it goes.”
Hocevar has been on a roll. If we are to take out the engine troubles from the Coca-Cola 600, in the last two races, he has been a genuine contender. Now that he has the opportunity to win the race in front of his home crowd and family, the driver decided to call a truce with Stenhouse.
“I think the biggest thing is we don’t want to slow ourselves down by having these clouds over our heads just as a team or put any more target on my back. I’ve created the world I live in of that reputation; I understand that. You don’t want to do anything more to put a bigger target on your back,” he explained further.
Unfortunately, fans won’t be able to see flying punches or bent fenders in the clash of two animated personalities from the NASCAR garage.
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