Carson Hocevar appears hell-bent on cementing his place as NASCAR’s newest provocateur — either by design or through a streak of ill-timed aggression that has rubbed nearly everyone the wrong way. His latest run-in with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. added fuel to the fire after he needlessly clipped the No. 47 from behind and later justified it. While the backlash was swift, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to strike a more nuanced tone, focusing on his racing merit as well.
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Though he stopped short of outright defending the former Truck Series contender, Dale Jr. acknowledged the substantial performance gains Hocevar has brought to the No. 77 car and went as far as to draw comparisons to Kurt Busch.
Speaking on The Dale Jr. Download, he said, “I don’t know what everybody else is sitting there thinking, but I’m sitting there going, ‘Holy s—t man, he’s improved this car by at least 10 positions.’ And that’s very Kurt Busch-like… I think that he does race above the potential of the car all the time. There are very few drivers in the entire history of the sport that do that.”
Earnhardt continued, “There’s some that are elite like Kurt Busch that could get in a car and make that car much better than it was capable of running. And just all the time, just faster.
“Every time he went to a different team, Kurt Busch would make that team better immediately. They’d start running better, and they’d start progressing and getting even better week in and week out until he moved on to a new program.”
Spire’s No. 77 machine had been mired in mediocrity since its lone win in 2019, when Justin Haley pulled off a rain-shortened upset at Daytona’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. Between 2019 and Hocevar’s arrival, the entry managed just four top-10s and a single top-five. But since stepping into the ride in 2024, Hocevar has already secured six top-10 finishes and three other top-fives, signaling a noticeable turnaround.
Much like Busch, who was no stranger to conflict, having butted heads with heavyweights like Jimmie Johnson, Hocevar has already crossed swords with established names such as Ross Chastain and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. If his current journey holds, Hocevar could very well become one of the sport’s most polarizing figures, not just for his combative style, but for his unquestionable impact behind the wheel.
Is Kyle Petty on the same page as Dale Jr. about Carson Hocevar?
Petty, long an admirer of Kurt Busch, appears to have taken a similar liking to Hocevar. On his Kiss My Asphalt podcast, Petty floated the idea that Spire Motorsports should lock Hocevar into a long-term deal, mirroring Hendrick Motorsports’ recent move to secure William Byron with a four-year extension.
He hinted that unless Spire’s ownership wises up and puts pen to paper soon, Hocevar could be pried away by a better-resourced, higher-profile organization once his current contract runs its course.
Though the 22-year-old driver’s results have lacked week-to-week consistency, he has displayed flashes of competitive pace, including a pair of runner-up finishes this season. He currently holds 17th place in the driver standings.
