For whatever reasons why, this was a different Carson Hocevar that was forced to conduct a press conference on Friday at Homestead-Miami, a day after posting an apology video for his actions the week before at Martinsville.
Having been suspended by Spire Motorsports earlier in the week, which predated a $100,000 fine and 25-point deduction, Hocevar was required to do a press conference taking every question on the topic.
In this moment, Hocevar was stripped of his usual boyish exuberance and dryly answered each question that came his way.
Immediately following the race last week, Hocevar said brake-checking Austin Cindric was ‘just Martinsville’ and expressed no remorse for knocking the Team Penske No. 2 out of the race with it. He continued to do it four times over two laps even as spotter Tyler Green pled with him to ‘stop Carson.’
The sudden stops transferred over 1000 pounds of pressure from the rear end of the Spire No. 77 to the front of the Penske 2.
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The post-race scene was a familiar one, with several drivers accusing Hocevar of numerous breaches of driver etiquette, with the Spire youngster shrugging them off. NASCAR has now fined him a combined three times and for $150,000 with the Spire suspension adding to the heaviest punitive action applied to him yet.
Why is this time different than all the others?
“Maybe the stove wasn’t hot enough, Jeff,” Hocevar said, referencing team owner Jeff Dickerson. “I wanted to keep my hand on it until it finally burned and I burned my hand.”
Hocevar said it wasn’t about the money either. Sure, the fines are hefty, but it seemed like this entire weekend is turning into a public flagellation of sorts.
“It’s more so obviously the actions that come with the fines,” Hocevar said. “It’s no different than Jeff says, he kind of explained to me, he’s like, ‘To a millionaire or a billionaire, what’s a parking ticket? Screw it. I’m just going to park here no matter what it is because it doesn’t really hurt me.’
“So, I think, ultimately the burn is me not driving.”
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Spire suspended Hocevar and not NASCAR, meaning the team set the terms and not the Sanctioning Body. A NASCAR suspension means Hocevar is prevented from being anywhere that his annual credential would allow him access to.\
Spire has him at the track, taking questions from the media, and being around the team all weekend even as Justin Haley drives the car that still has the ‘HOCEVAR’ name plate affixed to the windshield.
He will spend all weekend signing for fans as long as he is not at the pit stall supporting Haley and crew chief Luke Lambert.
“That’s obviously going to be difficult, but at the same time it’s not because I think Jeff made the right call and I’m a believer in it,” Hocevar said.
He says if he thought it was ‘difficult’ then that would also mean he thought it was ‘unfair.’ He says he accepts this and wants to make this right in the eyes of Dickerson on down.
When first asked what provoked him to brake check Cindric, Hocevar responded with a curt ‘it doesn’t matter.’ It sounded dismissive.
“I’m not going to sit here and explain every why because all that matters is you do it,” Hocevar said. “There’s no explanation for it that would make it make sense or whatnot.”
In a follow-up, Hocevar seemed to understand that he came across as dismissive and was grateful for the chance to explain it again.
“I’m glad you asked me to clarify that,” Hocevar said. “I don’t think it matters to sit here and explain it, right, or sit here and to digest it. Number one, I think Martinsville, I could sit here and be like, ‘Oh, Martinsville just creates you to do unhinged things.’
“How many times have we seen people go wide open in the middle of a corner or brake-check? Maybe not four times. Maybe that’s a little extreme obviously, but I just don’t think it matters for me to sit up here and go through every little detail of why or try to explain why I was or wasn’t mad or wanted to do this because of this.
“Ultimately, it’s just I would like to not do this again, and within our four walls, we’re going to work on that.”
Hocevar said the highlight reels never show brake-checks. They show bump-and-runs but not what he did.
“Badasses make moves going forward, not backwards,” he said.
Hocevar said he is not going to go out of his way to apologize to everyone that feels aggrieved by him. He’s going to say so if they pass each other this weekend, but he says he’s focused on actions and not words.
In this moment, Hocevar says he recognizes that in the pursuit of aggression and authenticity, he crossed a ‘sportsmanship and integrity’ line. He says he went well beyond that line on Sunday.
“So when it’s not checked at the door, you probably start taking and get greedy and keep going for further throws and further fouls,” Hocevar said. “And eventually I made a very flagrant un-sportsman-like foul. So, I think that’s where the difference is.”
What about those who don’t believe him?
“That’s fine.”
He let the silence linger for a few seconds.
“I mean, I’m not going to go chase everybody’s opinion and I wouldn’t expect that,” Hocevar said. “It’s not going to just change overnight for people to … Things take time. And I think sports are great for that, that I think it’s good to be cheered and booed; and have polarizing decisions.
“You have your drivers and that you are ‘ride or die’ for or you absolutely hate that your driver was affected by this driver and everything. I think that’s all great.
“I would be a hypocrite if I said, ‘Gosh, you got to ride or die me even if you disagree. I think that’s fine.’ And I urge my fans to not be so ‘ride or die’ at times and it’s okay to criticize at times. We’re not all going to agree.”
And if all of this means he still has some retaliation coming his way from still dissatisfied peers? What if he gets wrecked?
“Then I get dumped,” Hocevar said.
Again, the silence lingered for a bit.
“I don’t know really what changes there,” Hocevar said. “I think that would just be racing. I don’t know. I guess I will just restart my engine, probably unspin myself around and see if I have damage or not.
“I’ll radio my team and say, ‘I might have damage on my left rear.’ That’s how I will react in that moment.”
But above all else, Hocevar says he really does not want to go through this week ever again.
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