Will the real Carson Hocevar please stand up?

By all current indications, Carson Hocevar is likely to be around the NASCAR garage for a while.

At 22 years old, it’s a safe bet that means Hocevar will undergo the natural personality evolution that all drivers experience with time and experience. Hopefully, that will include Hocevar standing on business when he finds himself the center of attention.

It happened again over the weekend at Kansas Speedway. Hocevar started Saturday by telling the media he had a “productive” conversation with Ryan Preece earlier in the week. Preece had expressed that Hocevar was someone who didn’t respect his own equipment nor anyone else’s after the two had an on-track incident at Texas Motor Speedway.

Saturday ended with Hocevar winning the Craftsman Truck Series race while giving Layne Riggs the middle finger. The two had made contact on the last lap, but it all worked out in the end as both got back around to the checkered flag. 

To some, Hocevar giving Riggs the middle finger was entertaining. Others thought it was deserved, given the contact. And then there were those who used it as yet another example of Hocevar’s perceived immaturity.

Hocevar gets people talking, and there is nothing wrong with that. He isn’t the first and won’t be the last driver who is a thorn in the side of his fellow competitors or fan races. 

But it was Hocevar’s comments afterward that stood out the most. 

“It was somewhat friendly, right?” Hocevar said with a smile. “It was just kind of … yeah, I don’t remember what I really did, to be honest. But if anything, I just wanted to remind him, really, of just like, 'hey, like, I still won', I guess. I don’t know. 

“At the end of the day, he did a really good job. He’s super, super talented. That group built a really, really fast truck. I remember watching Zane go on to win against us in that truck. It’s all harm, no foul, and I’m sure my bird is real small compared to just getting contact. It was all friendly and when I see him, I’ll sure we’ll laugh about it.”

The entire time Hocevar was talking he was smiling, which eventually gave way to a light laugh. It’s hard to take a driver seriously when that happens. 

Stand on your business. 

Hocevar is living a double life. He is talented and has proven he can drive a car and a truck fast. He is outgoing and has a genuine excitement about being a race car driver that has given him a fan base.

But when he finds himself having to answer for the way he raced, or is put in a situation to stand up for himself, it’s as if he can’t do it. Inside the car and under the helmet, Hocevar can go toe-to-toe with anyone. Outside the car, when the adrenaline is wearing off and the questions start flowing, suddenly, he seems very aware of needing to say the right thing.

It’s like watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Cares About What People Think of him.

Chastain joined the list of drivers wanting post-race chats with Hocevar at Atlanta. Hocevar initially stood his ground, but later sought to smooth the waters. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Hocevar did the same thing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney spent time talking to him after the race. In Blaney’s case, it was the shot Hocevar gave him in Turn 1 that sent Blaney sideways and nearly took him out of contention. Fortunately, Blaney avoided a wreck and rebounded to be there at the end. Chastain, meanwhile – a fellow Chevrolet driver and Hocevar mentor – saw Hocevar make it three-wide middle down the backstretch instead of staying in line.

At first, Hocevar stood by his claim that he'd simply been racing, but then it veered into trying to placate others by saying he still needed to learn.

“We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play on the playground together,” Hocevar said. “So, obviously, there’s learning lessons. You don’t want to piss anybody off or frustrate anybody, and there’s things I would clean up for sure. But it’s just going to come with learning …”

If you want to give the middle finger, then do it and don’t back down from saying it was to prove that I still won anyway. If you want to race hard, then get out afterward and make it known you are there for your team and your sponsors, and that’s your focus. And when you truly feel you might have made a mistake, then own up to it and don’t make it again. 

Last summer, Hocevar was fined for spinning Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville Superspeedway. A week later, in Chicago, he showed up and said he didn’t mean to intentionally spin Burton, and compared it to a bar fight where the guy who initiates is the one who gets in trouble. He said there was more to the story, but wouldn’t go into detail, and said he didn’t feel he had to prove anything to the garage.

Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and even the now-retired Kevin Harvick easily come to mind when thinking about the place where Hocevar finds himself now. Those drivers often found themselves in rivalries or on-track incidents, but the difference is that you always knew where they stood with their comments after the fact. There was no hesitation or overthinking of the situation and what needed to be said at the moment. They said what they said and meant it.

Hocevar doesn’t need to say the right thing. He doesn’t need to be liked. He doesn’t even need to lean into being the villain. 

None of this is about that. All Hocevar needs to do is decide if he’s going to fall in line with how his competitors want him to race, repeating the same things over and over in interviews, or if he’s going to stand his ground on and off the racetrack.