Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. And Carson Hocevar sure is getting a lot of flattery lately, with several names — including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Petty — starting to compare Hocevar to the late Dale Earnhardt.
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Dale Jr. said to Sports on Prime on X that he felt Carson Hocevar was, in some ways, a bit like a young version of his father. Although he acknowledged that his opinion might stir controversy, he explained Hocevar makes a lot of mistakes and ruffles feathers but is also very fast and aggressive.
Petty was equally as effusive about Hocevar on this week’s edition of Fast Talk on the Performance Racing Network. He said, “I find it fascinating that I’m watching Amazon and they’re complaining about how Carson drives and… which is exactly what Earnhardt did.
“He came in with his roughness and gruffness and his raw talent and he changed the sport. And that’s what Carson’s doing in a certain way, is he’s changing that top group of drivers on how they’re going to have to race.”
He premised it by saying that this sort of thing happens in the sport — when a driver comes from relative obscurity and suddenly starts running in the top four or five, it often upsets the regular front-runners. Petty explained that those used to running at the front don’t want a new guy up there and don’t want to have to race with yet another competitor, so such frustration is often expressed.
Petty had a great follow-up line: “They whine about it a little bit. If you drive a race car, when God sends you to Earth and he says, ‘You’re going to be a race car driver, here’s the whine gene, okay.’ You get the whine gene and you get it in a mega dose because you’re going to whine about everything that somebody else does, but not about you.”
The former NASCAR driver reminded that Hocevar is what he has always been in other series, be it trucks, Xfinity or late models.
Will Hocevar have another run-in this weekend on his home track?
The 22-year-old Portage, Mich., native has gone far in a very short time. He finished 10th in the Truck Series in his first two seasons (at the age of 18 and 19), improved to third place at the age of 20, and had only a handful of starts in the Xfinity Series before being promoted to the Cup ranks.
There, Hocevar was 21st last season and is currently 17th heading into Sunday’s race in his home state. He’s already drawn the ire of several Cup drivers, most recently Stenhouse after they made contact last Sunday at Nashville, ending Stenhouse’s day and leaving Ricky to promise retribution “at some point.”
Yes, the elder Earnhardt was the same way when he first came into the Cup ranks, but frankly, the only way to stand out among other drivers is to be overly aggressive and show you’re not willing to take any guff or crap from others. If, as Dale Jr. said, it means you “ruffle some feathers” in the process, so be it.
Let’s face it, Carson Hocevar isn’t going away anytime soon. So Cup drivers better get used to him or we may soon start calling him the new Intimidator.
