Carson Hocevar has spent only four years in the NASCAR Cup Series, logging 82 starts and learning the ropes the hard way. But in that time, he’s seen enough limitations to urge the authorities to allow drivers to take part in as many different racing ventures as possible.
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Hocevar has experienced the impact of trimmed practice windows, where track time has been cut back, and drivers are left to make do with less time to dial in a car, feel a new tire, or find a cadence with a new track package. NASCAR continues to hold off on these limits and Hocevar is pushing for a return to more seat time.
In his view, there is no substitute for the real thing. No simulator, no replay, no data set can match the effort of running laps, hitting pit road under pressure, and reacting on the fly as the field closes in. The Cup Series drivers are permitted to compete in a maximum of 10 races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly the Xfinity Series) and 8 races in the Craftsman Truck Series. The aim is to give others a shot, to spread the wealth and keep the ladder moving. Hocevar, however, is calling for a rethink.
“We say all the time how beneficial the sim is. Well, I much rather real life experience by all means,” he said in an interview with Eric Estepp.
“Wanting them to reopen everything and let let us race all three series because I think we’d have a we would just race all three series,” he added, making the case for opening the gates and letting drivers run across all three tiers.
The idea harks back to a time when drivers did not pick and choose. Names like Kyle Busch would show up wherever there was a race, stacking laps across Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and Trucks, keeping their edge sharp by staying in the thick of it week in and week out. It was a run-what-you-bring mindset, where more laps meant more lessons.
The Spire Motorsports driver wants that playbook back. In his eyes, the more a driver races, the more they learn, and the better they become. Sitting idle between race weekends does not move the needle. Behind the scenes, he has been beating that drum, pushing for a system that gives drivers more freedom to compete.
