{"id":913976,"date":"2026-09-29T11:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913976\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T11:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:00:25","slug":"inside-the-garage-what-drivers-really-think-of-carson-hocevars-popularity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913976\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Garage: What Drivers Really Think Of Carson Hocevar’s Popularity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kan.) \u2014 After Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar traded fisticuffs<\/a> last week at Bristol Motor Speedway, fans cheered Hocevar …<\/p>\n

… as he stood by his car …<\/p>\n

… as he did interviews …<\/p>\n

… as he left the track.<\/p>\n

Hocevar ate it up, and it is fair to say the majority of the crowd ate it up, too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Carson Hocevar (L) and Ryan Blaney got into a physical altercation after the end of the Bristol night race.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Which brings to mind: How can a driver who has captured the hearts of the NASCAR fan base also be the one who lacks the respect of many of his competitors?<\/p>\n

“The disconnect between the two is the fan only cares about the entertainment side of things,” Cup team co-owner and driver Denny Hamlin told me and other reporters Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The drivers \u2014 these are their careers. And if you feel like someone hampers your ability to get your best result in your career, you\u2019re going to feel more upset.”<\/p>\n

Upset they’ve been.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gotten to the point where they aren\u2019t afraid to throw shade at Hocevar because of the number of incidents he has been involved in during his young career. In fact, he got a reputation in trucks for being a driver who would retaliate quickly.<\/p>\n

Hocevar, though, has matured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Carson Hocevar has matured, although he’s still got a bit of a reputation. <\/p>\n

He’s no longer criticized for retaliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s now more about his aggressive driving (that’s often considered reckless) and getting involved in incidents for positions early in a race or jockeying for a spot mid-pack where patience could be a virtue.<\/p>\n

“He’s different than all of us,” defending Cup champion and current series points leader Kyle Larson said during a news conference Saturday. “He acts different, talks different, dresses different. He’s just different. I think that’s refreshing for fans.<\/p>\n

“He drives more aggressive and willing to do crazier things than the rest of us probably are. … I’m not jealous of any exposure he’s getting from it because he’s doing a good job with it.”<\/p>\n

Many drivers are so focused on what they\u2019re doing and on trying to win the title that, when it comes to social media, Hocevar seems to be more engaged than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others aren\u2019t going to troll their competitors by selling merchandise at a discount<\/a> based on the car number of the last driver to tangle with him.<\/p>\n

And at least in the Blaney situation, their on-track tangle was more a 50-50 racing incident battling for second.<\/p>\n

“The fans are going to take a liking to whoever they want and that\u2019s their own opinion,” Blaney said at a news conference Friday. “People like who they like.\u00a0People dislike who they dislike.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t tell you why a fan likes a certain person. It\u2019s just that person\u2019s personality that might draw them, or they like their stuff on track. So it doesn\u2019t surprise me.”<\/p>\n

Chase Elliott, who has been the sport\u2019s most popular driver the last several years, said Hocevar\u2019s popularity doesn\u2019t frustrate him.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t view that to be frustrating,” Elliott told me and other reporters on Saturday. “People gravitate to their own personal choice and they have a right to do that. There\u2019s excitement or what have you. It\u2019s natural for people to gravitate to that direction.”<\/p>\n

Ryan Preece indicated that he has a code he races to and Hocevar has a different code. And he\u2019s OK if the fans like Hocevar\u2019s code.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hocevar is walking to the beat of his own drum. <\/p>\n

“For some fans, entertainment for sure,” Preece told me and other reporters Saturday. “I don\u2019t want to be that. I don\u2019t want to disrespect my competitors in a certain way. I want to do things the way I want them done, and he wants to do things the way he wants to.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s completely fine.”<\/p>\n

Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano hears his fair share of boos and he has stopped trying to figure out how to turn those to cheers. Going for his fourth title, he has said “Four The Haters” during this Chase.<\/p>\n

“I hate talking about this because I don’t think I’m a villain in any way,” Logano said in his pole news conference Saturday. “I’m the most smiling villain you have ever seen. \u2026 I don’t see the villain side that people try to put on me.<\/p>\n

“I guess it’s the way we’ve won our championships [in the elimination system] and that’s what it is.”<\/p>\n

One driver who has been surprised by the fan reaction is Bubba Wallace, who has been seen talking to Hocevar after a race, telling him he has speed but needs to work on how he manages races.<\/p>\n

“I am [surprised],” Wallace said in a media availability last week about Hocevar\u2019s popularity. “It\u2019s interesting how the sport works out. He\u2019s playing into the media side and the hype and all that for his brand.<\/p>\n

“And good for him. He\u2019s doing it better than anybody else. We\u2019re in a spot in the sport where a lot of drivers get booed and you finally have somebody going in and wrecking the drivers that gets booed and the next thing you know, that driver is getting praised for it.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hocevar’s lack of respect in the garage might make his road to winning a championship more difficult. <\/p>\n

Wallace pointed out what nearly every driver and analyst says. And that’s that Hocevar can\u2019t win a championship if he doesn\u2019t have the respect of his competitors, as he won\u2019t get the room he needs in 50-50 situations.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s definitely making it hard on himself with everything that goes down, whether his fault or not. …. His name seems to be a part of an on-track incident a majority of the time, his fault or not,” Wallace said. “That\u2019s where a lot of the frustration comes from the driver. It is what it is. We\u2019ll continue to worry about ourselves and move on.”<\/p>\n

Hocevar will do the same, and the crowd will likely follow.<\/p>\n

“He’s just different and people like different,” Larson said. “You have to keep your eye on him when you’re on the race track. But as a fan, I can see why he’s likable in that aspect.”<\/p>\n

In The News <\/p>\n

Erik Jones will remain at Legacy Motor Club. <\/p>\n

\u2014 Erik Jones signed a contract extension with Legacy Motor Club that will keep him with the team for the “foreseeable future.” The organization\u2019s 2027 lineup will be Jones, Josh Berry and Riley Herbst. Legacy Motor Club also announced it has hired former Brad Keselowski crew chief Jeremy Bullins to crew chief Herbst next season.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Austin Dillon crew chief Richard Boswell will move to a vice president of competition role starting in 2027. The team did not name a new crew chief for Dillon.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Arrow McLaren announced the car numbers for its new drivers in 2027. Scott Dixon will drive the No. 6 car while Felix Rosenqvist will drive the No. 7.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Mayer will move from Haas Factory Team to JR Motorsports (where he has driven previously) for the 2027 O\u2019Reilly Series season.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Former Cup Series owner George Gillett Jr. died Tuesday at age 87. An owner of several sport teams, Gillett was a former co-owner at Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Richard Petty Motorsports from 2007-2010.<\/p>\n

Social Spotlight\u00a0They Said It<\/p>\n

“It would be one thing, I would fully understand, of getting slapped with a penalty if I went over and initiated a punch or something like that. But in that situation I kind of initiated a confrontation and Carson defended himself, and I\u2019m happy they didn\u2019t do anything.”
\u2014 Ryan Blaney<\/p>\n

WHAT YOU SHOULD READ NEXT\"4<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle Larson got his second win of The Chase. And even though he’s leading the pack in points, he’s not getting too comfortable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kan.) \u2014 After Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar traded fisticuffs last week at Bristol…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,26749,634,8354,82],"class_list":["post-913976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carson-hocevar","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913976","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=913976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}