Who would want that pressure?
While it seems like Chili’s and Spire Motorsports are fully embracing the comparisons of their driver Carson Hocevar to the legendary Dale Earnhardt, apparently the driver himself isn’t really a fan.
Hocevar is in his third full year of the NASCAR Cup Series as the driver of the #77 car for Spire Motorsports, and it’s safe to say he hasn’t made many friends in the garage area since he arrived.
During his first season in the Cup Series, Hocevar was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points for spinning Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville. And last year, with a full season under his belt, Hocevar seemed to finally get comfortable (and competitive) behind the wheel and began making moves that drew quite a bit of criticism for being too aggressive, including dive bombing Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville and spinning Ryan Blaney at Atlanta. (He also managed to infuriate Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain in the same race).
That aggression on the track was on full display a couple weeks ago at Atlanta (or EchoPark Speedway, whatever it’s called now) when Hocevar was in contention for the win late in the race and decided to try to force himself into a hole that wasn’t really there on a late race restart, which ended up putting leader Christopher Bell in the wall.
Plenty of drivers criticized Hocevar for the move, as did Christopher Bell’s spotter:
“What an idiot. There wasn’t even a hole. He just drove into the left rear of you. …
Can’t defend against that dumb—.”
But after the incident, NASCAR legend and seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty discussed Hocevar on his Petty Family Podcast, and even compared him to the late, great Dale Earnhardt:
“That boy in that 77, he has himself a time. Right now a lot of the things he’s getting by with or doing, it’s not really that wrong. If I go back and watch him run and stuff, he reminds me of Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt learned to get by with that stuff, and that boy in the 77, he’s just going to have to learn to get by with the things he’s doing.”
When Petty’s co-host pointed out that Hocevar isn’t really making friends on the track, which could end up costing him a win, Petty was quick to respond:
“Earnhardt never made no friends either.”
Of course it wasn’t the first time Hocevar had been compared to Earnhardt for his aggressive driving style. And earlier this season, Hocevar even drove a Chili’s Presidente Margarita paint scheme that had fans nicknaming the car “The Intimidente” for its resemblance to Earnhardt’s black #3 car.
And this weekend at Darlington on what has traditionally been the sport’s annual throwback weekend (though NASCAR decided to do away with an “official” throwback race this year), Hocevar will be running a Chili’s-branded throwback to Earnhardt’s 1981 Wrangler paint scheme – complete with a firesuit made to look like the leather vest that the Intimidator wore in his iconic Wrangler ads.
But as for Hocevar himself, he’s obviously heard the comparisons – but he’s not exactly embracing them.
Ahead of this weekend’s race at Darlington, the 23-year-old Michigan native was asked what he thought about being compared to one of the greatest drivers in the sport’s history. And unsurprisingly, he’s not really a fan:
“I mean, I think I’ve hit enough people already. I dunno, I’m just driving how I wanna drive. I don’t really love the comparisons and what they’ve turned into.
It started by just kinda not apologizing after running into people basically, and just being really, really aggressive, to turning into kind of the, ‘Oh, I’m as good as him,’ and I was like, I don’t know where THAT came from.
So I just plan on driving. I’m just hoping I’m fast enough or we’re good enough that we can actually be up front and be relevant, especially with that scheme.
But yeah, I’m just me. I’ve been saying it for a long time, I like just being me. It’s a lot easier that way for my sake. I don’t like to have to be anybody I’m not.”
I mean, you can’t really blame him. That’s a ton of pressure for a driver who’s already getting a lot of scrutiny for his driving – and who hasn’t even won his first Cup Series race yet.
Now, to be clear, do I think that Hocevar is one of the most talented drivers in the Cup Series? Yes, and I’ll argue that any day of the week. If he were in a Hendrick or Joe Gibbs car he would already have multiple wins and be contending for championships by now.
But do I think it’s way too early to anoint him the next Dale Earnhardt? Obviously. There’s nobody who could ever live up to that.
