Carson Hocevar is the man. The new image of NASCAR. Style over substance, if you will. And Hocevar is all about style. It’s his thing, and he never misses an opportunity to put himself front and center. Hocevar has only been on the Cup scene for going on three years, and hasn’t accomplished much on the track yet.
Off it, well, that’s another matter. He first attracted attention when he did burnout at Talladega after winning his first Cup race there. Winning a race at Talladega – or any superspeedway for that matter – is really no big deal. First, you have to avoid the “big wreck.” Then, you have to be fortunate enough to be in the right lane at the right time on the last lap.
It was what Hocevar did after leading the last lap that made him an instant fan favorite. He sent up plums of smoke while riding around half out the window on the burnout, and the crowd went wild. From that point on, Hocevar has had the bit in his teeth and he’s not about to spit it out. He does his thing when ever and where ever he can.
He has a reckless style on the track, smashing into the competition and knocking them out of the way in an effort to get where he wants to go. This hasn’t left him with many friends in the garage, but who needs friends when a little beatin’ and bangin’ pumps up the fans?
Some say he reminds them of the late great Dale Earnhardt. And while that’s a ridiculous comparison based on how much Earnhardt accomplished early in his career and how little Hocevar has done, it fits nicely with the image he is cultivating so he’ll take it.
Just 24, Hocevar is brash and unapologetic for what he says and does and thrives on controversy, all of which came to a head last Saturday night at Bristol. Racing Ryan Blaney for second place late in the race, Hocevar got up a head of steam and started to pass Blaney in the high lane.
Blaney immediately moved up to block the run, Hocevar didn’t lift, clipped Blaney’s rear bumper and sent him spinning into the wall. Furious; Blaney had led 202 laps, or about 40 percent of race, before being knocked out, Blaney confronted Hocevar in the garage and a fight broke out with the Bristol fans roaring their approval, since Hocevar seemed to get the better of it.
They even booed winner Joey Logano, who moved past Ty Gibbs to steal the win as Hocevar and Gibbs did some beating and banging on the closing laps, keeping either one from taking the top spot. “I wasn’t trying to wreck him Blaney),” Hocevar said on pit road according to NASCAR’s website. “It just looked like to me I got a run and kind of went left, and he spun; I spun him,” Hocevar said.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of talking,” Hocevar continued, referring now to the post race fight. “He (Blaney) just said one thing and then went after me, and I wasn’t going to take it. I mean that was fun with the 54 (Gibbs). I got ran into a lot. I mean that was for second place (the incident with Blaney) and he wants to come fight.”
“I don’t know what I did wrong there,” Hocevar continued. “I got a run to cross him over. It looked like he spun himself and then he wants to instigate a fight. I was going to finish that and, you know, it seemed like the crowd was pretty pumped up so I was going to play the audience for a second,” he said after acknowledging the fans.”
For his part, Blaney has said nothing, not after the fight or in the days following. But NASCAR, which usually frowns on such antics, has actually come out and encouraged it, this despite the fact that something like this can cause serious injury. Blaney, who fell backward in all the confusion after being hit by Hocevar, could easily have hit his head on the concrete floor and that could have been disastrous.
Speaking on the Racin’ With The Boys podcast, Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s CEO, said the following: “Where we’re at is if the drivers want to handle their business, great…We need rivalries, we need villians, right?” O’Donnell commented.
Welcome to the new NASCAR, where it’s no longer about the race. It’s all about the show.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Kansas Sunday: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Tyler Reddick, 3-Christopher Bell. Last year’s winner at Kansas: Chase Elliott. Top five at Kansas last year: 1-Elliott, 2-Hamlin, 3-Bell, 4-Chase Briscoe, 5-Bubba Wallace.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport Bristol picks: 1-Ryan Blaney, 2-Joey Logano, 3-Ty Gibbs. Last week’s Bristol winner: Logano. OGS season record after 24 races: 13-11.
OGS competition index top 10 after 24 races: 1-Hamlin 574 points, 2-BelL 465, 3-Kyle Larson 411, 4-Reddick 383, 5-Gibbs 354, 6-Blaney 319, 7-Briscoe 316, 8-Logano 308, 9-Shane van Gisbergen 226, 10-Elliott 192.
OGS competition index top 10 on intermediate tracks (tracks most like Kansas): 1-Hamlin 428 points, 2-Reddick 271, 3-Bell 266, 4-Larson 213, 5-Briscoe 151, 6-Elliott 120, 7-William Byron 119, 8-Alex Bowman 80, 9-Corey Heim 78, 10-Logano 73.
