Carson Hocevar has been racing on a knife’s edge, and the way he throws his car into a corner has not gone unnoticed. Interestingly, what other drivers on the track today see as recklessness, some see shades of Dale Earnhardt. And owing to the same, comparisons to the icon have followed him from garage to garage, with names like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Petty drawing the link.
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In fact, at Darlington Raceway, the Spire Motorsports driver will lean into that talk, driving a throwback scheme from 1981 tied to Dale Earnhardt’s blue-and-yellow Wrangler era. Hocevar, though, has kept his feet on the ground whenever that label came up. In the past, he brushed it off, saying he would only buy into it after stacking titles.
After stirring the pot late in the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season, the comparison surfaced again. Hocevar called it a compliment he did not take lightly, noting that praise from figures like Richard Petty, Petty’s son, and Dale Jr. meant a lot. Still, he said that he would settle for even a slice of their success instead of trying to mirror any one career.
Speaking on Erik Estep’s YouTube channel, Hocevar said the comparison does not sit right with him. “I don’t even really like the comparison. I mean, I appreciate it obviously, but I feel like we’ve probably should have won a race now.”
“There are a lot of things that have taken us out of contention of those. But I’m like, every now and again, run into people, and now I’m running a black car here and there. I don’t really see it. I mean we were joking. I was like, I love Corey Day. Like, I’m a big fan of his, but I was like, he’s Dale Earnhardt, too.”
“He’s been running into people and everything. It’s a good business decision to maybe sell some t-shirts, but number one, even if I won everything, even if I have 10 cup wins and we had a shot to win a championship last year, like nobody’s the next Dale. I mean, I’ve been sitting here in every interview. I just want to be me. It’s a lot easier,” he added.
The throwback scheme may tip its cap to the past, but Hocevar admitted the wider presentation, including a staged shoot with him in full Western gear, felt at odds with his message. He called it part of the business side of the sport, where marketing calls the tune and drivers often have to fall in line.
Even so, Hocevar is not taking the bait. In his view, chasing someone else’s shadow is a road to nowhere. He would rather cut his own path, even if it means turning down a comparison that many would embrace. If he can claim even a fraction of Dale Sr.’s record, that would be enough to tip the scales in his favor.
