Say what you want, but you can’t deny that it’s tough to keep Carson Hocevar out of the limelight. In just his second full-time season in the Cup Series, he has had several flashpoints with other drivers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. touched upon the latest one after Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway.
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The incident involved Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith after Hocevar’s car got loose and made contact with the No. 38 Ford. Smith’s day ended abruptly after he went into the SAFER barrier as a result.
His crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, confronted Hocevar after the race and had some choice words to say to him. But Hocevar’s reaction on social media afterward suggested he was completely unfazed.
Naturally, this became a hot topic of discussion on the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download. When asked about Hocevar’s online shenanigans, Junior remarked, “That part I do like. Our sports needs personality, and he’s got a lot of personality. Some of the stuff that he does, has done, or does in the future, I’m not going to love all of it. But I like it because we need people [like him].”
At the same time, Junior felt that there was one thing that the No. 77 Spire Motorsports driver could improve. “I think if he would try to calm down a little bit, though, he would do a little bit better. I think he needs to clean it up a little bit… I’d like to see him take the next step in polishing his craft. I don’t want him to change anything he’s doing off the track,” Junior added.
Moreover, there was solid evidence behind this opinion of Junior’s. Hocevar has finished 29th or worse in five of the last nine races since Nashville, and with no top-fives either.
Junior went on to say, “I’m just saying let’s get back to basics. Let’s get back to racing. Let’s quit ruffling a feather every single weekend. Let’s go run a complete race. He’s got quick cars. He’s got good talent. Let’s get back to building this team, helping this team get to where they want to go.”
As Junior said, Hocevar now has to focus on getting a clean run of races where his primary objective is to finish higher consistently, perhaps even get that first Cup Series win. That way, he would get his racing talent to shine through first and foremost. After all, character alone isn’t worth much if not backed by performance on track.
