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Hometown Hero: NASCAR Cup Driver Carson Hocevar Buys Chili’s to Keep Local Favorite Open

Jerry Bonkowski
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May 4, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) is introduced before the start of the Wurth 400 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

May 4, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) is introduced before the start of the Wurth 400 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

When most NASCAR drivers get hungry, they’ll oftentimes go to a fast-food place for a quick bite—but not growing NASCAR star Carson Hocevar. When he gets hungry, he goes out and buys the entire restaurant.

The Portage, Michigan native heard that one of his favorite restaurants, Chili’s in his hometown, was on the verge of closing and being torn down to make way for a major Kroger’s grocery store and adjacent gas station.

So Hocevar broke out his checkbook, and now he’ll never have to worry about keeping the kitchen open any time he’s hungry when he’s back home. Hocevar took to social media to tout his new acquisition:

“I BOUGHT MY HOMETOWN CHILI’S LOCATION IN PORTAGE MICHIGAN!!!” he wrote.

“I am excited to announced after seeing this post I made a call and got ahold of my friends at Chili’s. I wanted to be able to save this location as it’s very close to home. It shocked me to find out the folks at (radio station) 107.7 RKR had no base to their claims and this location was open. I figured it would be worthy investment to still invest and so I am proud to announce that I bought this Chili’s location in my hometown. Hope everyone can come in and grab a bite to eat!”

Social media came to Chili’s rescue!

What prompted Hocevar to become a restaurateur was a social media post by radio station WRKR: “Kroger will be totally tearing down this whole plaza in all buildings located here before beginning the construction on their new building. The Chili’s restaurant will also be torn down and the lot will be the home of the new Kroger gas station.”

Looking through fan comments, one immediately stood out—and perhaps the Spire Motorsports driver has something else in mind: “That’s one way to have a sponsorship for life.”

He even went out on a limb and shared a picture of a Chili’s restaurant adorned in a No. 77 Chili’s ‘Ride the ‘Dente’ paint scheme, reminiscent of the restaurant chain’s marketing campaign, specifically focused on racing and NASCAR. Maybe the Portage, Michigan native is smarter than we give him credit for after all.

Post Edited By:Rahul Ahluwalia

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

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Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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