22-year-old Carson Hocevar did not make any friends in Atlanta on Sunday night. He finished the Cup Series race in second place after angering many drivers with his aggressive racing style. However, he was clear about one thing in his post-race interviews: He wasn’t on the track to show love to his competitors.
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The young Spire Motorsports driver’s attitude about the whole issue reminds us of a former champion who used to be cut from the same cloth.
Brad Keselowski is a mature and wise team co-owner and driver today. But back in the day, he used to have a lot of fun racing aggressively against the likes of Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, and Denny Hamlin.
The RFK Racing co-owner/driver told USA Today Sports in 2009, when he was just 25 years old, “In this sport when others are angry at you, generally you’ve done something right. Because when you’re in a competitive environment, the only time a competitor is going to like you is when they’re beating you.”
He continued, “They’re mad at me because I’ve been racing too hard, not because I’m causing wrecks. That’s pretty damn awesome! It’s pretty awesome that Tony Stewart’s mad at me because I’m outracing him. So I don’t walk away from that angry or upset.” That is pretty flawless reasoning for a young driver to have.
It ought to be noted that Keselowski transformed into a more peaceful driver as the years went on. Hocevar must learn to do the same. Having one too many enemies on the race track will result in unnecessary damage to cars and too many dollars withdrawn from the bank. The question is if the No. 77 driver is ready for that.
What Hocevar said after finishing second in Atlanta
Drivers, including Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, and Kyle Larson, were visibly frustrated with Hocevar. A good thing is that he wasn’t arrogant in his interviews after the race. He humbly admitted his mistakes wherever due. But he did not regret driving the way he did throughout the race.
He said, “I finished second. We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play on the playground together. Obviously, there’s learning lessons. You don’t want to piss anybody off or frustrate anybody, and there’s things I would clean up for sure. But it’s going to come with learning that.”
Busch was one of the drivers he’d offended the most. He went on an extensive rant about Hocevar to the media. However, fans couldn’t help but point out that it was exactly how Busch himself used to be as a youngster. Hocevar can and most probably will take pride in the fact that he is pissing off veterans like him. Just as Keselowski did.
