![\"Jimmie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2282370837.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Jimmie Johnson offers mixed feelings on Carson Hocevar.<\/p>\n
Jimmie Johnson has mixed opinions when it comes to NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar. Amid growing backlash from drivers regarding Hocevar\u2019s aggressive driving style, the seven-time Cup Series champion weighed in on \u201cThe Hurricane.\u201d<\/p>\n Hocevar<\/a> previously drove for Johnson\u2019s co-owned team, Legacy Motor Club, on a part-time basis in 2023. The 23-year-old moved to Spire Motorsports full-time ahead of the 2024 season and is currently in his third season piloting the No. 77 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n While Hocevar\u2019s popularity has been on the rise, he has made few friends on the racetrack with his aggressiveness.<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s mixed feelings on Hocevar<\/p>\n On Friday night, Johnson took to X<\/a> to share his perspective on Hocevar\u2019s polarizing rise to NASCAR stardom.<\/p>\n The former driver of the No. 48 was up front in saying he believes Hocevar\u2019s personality is something NASCAR needs. However, the 83-time Cup Series winner has had an interesting experience with the Michigan native.<\/p>\n While Hocevar drove for Johnson\u2019s Cup team back in 2023, he has heard little from him since. In addition, the 50-year-old has been displeased by Hocevar\u2019s aggressive nature on-track, citing times he has wrecked his LMC cars.<\/p>\n \u201cMy opinion: [Carson Hocevar] is one of many personalities our sport needs. Now I should state a few things\u2026 1. He drove for us and has only spoken to once in 2ish years since. 2. I\u2019m frustrated with his mistakes wrecking our cars,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Although Johnson has his gripes about Hocevar, he cannot deny what the young driver has done in terms of his popularity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson became one of NASCAR\u2019s most accomplished drivers over his 19-year career. Piloting the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Johnson captured a record-tying seven Cup championships and 83 career Cup wins.<\/p>\n Perhaps Johnson\u2019s most impressive feat was winning an unprecedented five straight Cup championships from 2006-2010. Despite all his success, Johnson said he never managed to win over NASCAR\u2019s \u201ccore\u201d fans.<\/p>\n Johnson noted Hocevar has done just that and his merchandise sales speak for itself.<\/p>\n \u201c3. I by no means won over the core @nascar fan base. And 4. Merch sales don\u2019t lie,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n In a press release from NASCAR, it was revealed that Hocevar is the No. 1 merch seller<\/a> in the sport. It is a major contrast from last year at this time when Hocevar ranked 32nd among drivers in merch sales.<\/p>\n Hocevar faces Cup Series slump prior to the Chase<\/p>\n Amid all the outside noise, Hocevar will compete in the Chase for the first time in his Cup Series career. On the way there, however, this year\u2019s Talladega winner has fallen into a slump prior to the Chase.<\/p>\n In the last three races, Hocevar has failed to finish higher than 19th with two finishes of 30th or worse. At Iowa three races ago, the No. 77 Chevrolet was plagued by mechanical issues, leaving Hocevar with a 31st-place finish.<\/p>\n In the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway the following week, Hocevar suffered his first DNF of the season after another mechanical problem. He wound up finishing 37th.<\/p>\n Last Sunday at New Hampshire, Hocevar spun out twice and went as far as two laps behind. Miraculously, Hocevar managed to recover to finish 19th.<\/p>\n Entering Iowa, Hocevar ranked fifth in the Cup Series points standings. With one race to go in the regular season, the Spire Motorsports star finds himself 11th. Still, Hocevar clinched a spot in the Chase last Sunday at New Hampshire.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJohn Breeden<\/a> John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jimmie Johnson offers mixed feelings on Carson Hocevar. Jimmie Johnson has mixed opinions when it comes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-876153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}