NASCAR fans left divided after Carson Hocevar | Sports News

The ever-divisive determine of Carson Hocevar has break up the NASCAR fanbase as soon as again, this time together with his stance on friendships with different drivers.

The 22-year-old driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet ZL1 for Spire Motorsports has confirmed controversial within the Cup Series due to a number of high-profile incidents, comparable to in Mexico City the place he induced Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to spin, prompting the Hyak Motorsports driver to threaten “to beat his a– once we got back in the States.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, when not too long ago requested by Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his Dale Jr. Download podcast who he hangs out with when not racing, Hocevar replied, “Just a bunch of my iRacing buddies.”

Hocevar later elaborated that he doesn’t have another pals within the Cup, Xfinity, or Craftsman Truck Series, including, “I’ve only hung out one time with any other drivers; it was SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) and Bubba [Wallace] at his property. One time.”

Delving deeper into his stance on befriending different drivers, Earnhardt Jr. requested Hocevar which driver “says hi to you the most,” to which the teenager merely replied, “I don’t know.” As for who he chooses to affix on the pre-race floats, Hocevar responded, “Whoever I didn’t run into last week,” happening to notice that his alternative of platform in Chicago got here down to “the float that had the least amount of drivers on it.”

This lack of on-grid friendship is neither intentional nor unintentional, in accordance with Hocevar, who stated it’s merely “how it worked out. I don’t go out, I don’t drink.”

His feedback proved divisive on social media, with one fan commenting, “I just gained a tiny bit of respect for him. Having work friends is overrated.” While one other stated, “He’s headstrong, like he’d love to run @TonyStewart (who I’d want driving if the house depended on it) @KyleBusch @KyleLarsonRacin @chaseelliott @WilliamByron etc on their best day, & he’d bet on himself. He causes ppl to watch the race.”

By comparability, a third steered this was “Why he won’t be around that long. He wrecks people, he annoys the fans, I doubt sponsors can see a way to market him as well.” As a fourth felt, “This is kinda tough to watch….. thought the garage was supposed to take care of their own, rivalries or not.”

Hocevar seemingly isn’t afraid to confess that he will be an aggressive driver, and whereas that won’t win him any recognition contests, it has undoubtedly earned him each factors on the observe and admirers off it.

Currently twenty first within the drivers standings, Hocevar has completed within the prime 10 on 4 events this season, together with second at Atlanta and Nashville. Most not too long ago, he wrecked out of the Grant Park 165 in Chicago on simply the third lap, after slamming into the wall on flip 11, spinning his No. 77 and inflicting a pile-up involving one other six vehicles.

This led to Hocevar being labeled “the biggest dumb— in the entire sport” by Austin Dillon, as his day additionally got here to an finish within the crash.