Carson Hocevar keeps getting cast in the same mold as Dale Earnhardt, with veteran names like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Petty fanning the talk. And this weekend, the Spire Motorsports driver is taking a step ahead. At Darlington Raceway, he will lean into that history, heading out with a throwback scheme from Dale Earnhardt’s 1981 Wrangler era, with the blue-and-yellow look back in play. But in the middle of all that, a step fell through the cracks.
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Hocevar admitted that he never gave Dale Jr. a heads-up or took his permission. He had planned to do that, but could not. When asked during media day if he had looped in the Earnhardt camp (Dale Jr. or his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller) or planned to keep it under wraps, the Spire Motorsports driver admitted the ball was in his court, and he dropped it.
He meant to send a text, get a read on the scheme, maybe hear what Junior thought. Instead, the calendar ran away from him. As he put it, “Yeah, it was kind of a surprise to me a little bit on some of the things. But I meant to text them, and I was like, ah, it’s a little too far out… let me get the scheme and everything and let me send them a picture.”
“They were going to do it. But, yeah, I just kind of wanted to send it to Dale Jr. because he and I have that relationship and just kind of be like, man, what do you think of this? Do you think it’s cool?”
The season moved at full tilt, one race rolling into the next, and before Hocevar knew it, the reveal was locked in with a photo shoot. By the time it crossed his mind again, the horse had bolted. Hocevar owned up to it, saying the moment got away.
“Honestly, Darlington just kind of snuck up on me. I forgot how quickly it happened. You know, once you get racing a season and everything comes up so fast that it was like, oh, shoot… like it’s already going to be announced with a photo shoot or whatever. Otherwise, I would have texted him, but I just honestly forgot,” he accepted.
Now that he has been reminded of the same again, Hocevar may reach for his phone and get in touch with Junior. Still, the paint scheme is only one part of the story.
Despite being ready to sit in Dale Sr.’s paint scheme on Sunday, Hocevar recently clarified that the Earnhardt comparisons, while meant as praise, do not sit easily with him. He has not found Victory Lane yet, and in his view, drawing lines to a name like Earnhardt does not hold water at this stage.
There’s also the weight that comes with such talk. Expectations pile up, and they can box a driver in. Hocevar’s stance is that he would rather create his own path than chase someone else’s shadow.
