Carson Hocevar has somewhat become the face of NASCAR in terms of people who don\u2019t watch NASCAR and he isn\u2019t totally sure why.<\/p>\n
A decade ago, he was getting banned from his local short track for being too young to drive a Late Model in races he was already winning and now is being invited to the Met Gala and Time 100 Sports Gala.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s only won a single Cup Series race to date but found himself mingling with Lebron James and Prince Harry earlier this week. He\u2019s dating well known content creator Tabitha Swatosh.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a surreal life.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s great for me,\u201d Hocevar said on Friday during a press conference at North Wilkesboro Speedway. \u201cYou know, like I say all the time, my favorite driver was Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. I saw him everywhere, right? You saw him on MTV, the music awards and doing all these really cool things, so I just always thought that\u2019s really what NASCAR drivers do. In the 2000s, it was probably a lot more realistic that they all do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of times where I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t understand why I\u2019m invited to these, but I\u2019m definitely taking advantage of it, enjoying it, embracing it and just trying to have as much fun with it as possible, knowing that obviously it\u2019s a really cool and once-in-a-life experience for me at a lot of these events. But also, too, it\u2019s obviously great for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he first saw James, he wanted to ask for a photo, but talked himself out of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walked over and he was at his table,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cI sat at a table far away from him and some guy came up to ask for a seat. He happened to know who I was and I knew him. He was like, \u2018hey, I\u2019m taking this seat over to LeBron, why don\u2019t you walk over?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so, I walked over and you could tell his security guards just started to swarm in, and then all of a sudden, the guy put his hand up and that\u2019s when LeBron stood up, took his glasses off and then we talked for a while. And then I was like, \u2018man, I have to get a photo.\u2019 It was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
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James actually knew who Hocevar was because his trainer\u2019s son is currently racing in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
And then there was Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and somewhat exiled royalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I was like, \u2018man, I wouldn\u2019t make my mom proud if I didn\u2019t ask for a photo.\u2019 That\u2019s who she loves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harry obliged and told Hocevar that he hopes the photo made his mom happy.<\/p>\n
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Hocevar knows he needs to win more to justify this spotlight, but also wants to do right by NASCAR, Spire Motorsports and his sponsors for getting him to this point at just 23-years-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been super cool for me,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cI think Denny (Hamlin) and Michael (Jordan) were in (the TIME Sports 100) as well. But, you know, being the solo (NASCAR driver) in it, I guess, is super fun for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I want to win more, but I think it\u2019s been proven a lot within the sport that you can win multiple races in a row and that doesn\u2019t make your (name) outside the NASCAR bubble, right? If our viewership was based off the racing production, we\u2019d have 10 million live viewers for Atlanta every single time, I think.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, it\u2019s just getting people to care who\u2019s in the cars. You can have the greatest finish of all time, but if you don\u2019t care who\u2019s involved in the finish, you might as well go watch iRacing, AI Racing, an animation, any kind of motorsport. It\u2019s been super humbling for me to have a lot of people ultimately care about who\u2019s in my car.\u201d<\/p>\n
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