Carson Hocevar says NASCAR ‘asleep at the wheel’ | Sports News

Carson Hocevar did little to cover his frustration with the present state of NASCAR after occurring a journey down reminiscence lane.

During a well-deserved off week in the NASCAR Cup Series calendar, Hocevar — who flipped off Corey Heim from behind the wheel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — brushed up on his motorsports historical past by watching the 2000 Talladega race. The Spire Motorsports driver couldn’t help however discover the unbelievable high quality of the broadcast, which he argued makes at present’s manufacturing look insignificant.

“Sitting here watching the 2000 Talladega race,” Hocevar wrote on Facebook, after NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 attendance was made public as empty seats brought on alarm.

“It’s insane; we as a sport produce the product we give to fans, and wonder why fans have lost interest. This race (2000 Talladega) is beautiful. The sights, the sounds, the cars, the production, the commentators.

“It’s clear as day why the sport is where it’s at and not where it once was. The entertainment value of this race is so much better and so visually more appealing.”

Hocevar insisted that the average viewer merely needs to be “entertained” relatively than having a barrage of numbers and statistics pressured down their throat, including: “Casual fans just wanna be entertained. They don’t care about aero, engine packages, downforce, drag, tire wear. They truly don’t care. They just wanna be visually entertained and feel like they’re not wasting their time watching something that’s not prestigious.”

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Hocevar went as far as to say that NASCAR is at the moment “asleep at the wheel,” concluding: “We’re on the ventilator and asleep at the wheel of what the real problems are. Back in the day, you can see the innovation year to year of the broadcast quality and them trying to always improve.

“Now it’s just cutting stuff to improve the bottom line and wondering why people lose interest or are no longer impressed. There’s nothing new. Eventually they’ve seen it all, or it’s a shell of what it once was, and there’s no point of tuning in.”

Taking to Instagram, Hocevar went on one other prolonged rant after tuning into an previous Daytona 500 from round the similar time. “Everything about this is better,” he declared. “The racing, the visuals, the commentary, the paint schemes, the sounds. 7.489 million watched the Daytona 500.150k-ish went to the Daytona 500. Yet the Victory Lane isn’t prominent and is just an afterthought.

“You already seen them. You already heard from them. It’s not secondary, or it’s a shot as they cut away to a cornhole championship that is in the next TV time slot. The majority of people watched an interview with nothing around it other than concrete on a track. Not confetti and his team splashing him while fireworks go off, and looking like it’s of importance of what they just watched.

“Based off what I’ve watched, they always tried to one-up their last broadcast or the last year back in the day. Or try and just make visual gains and innovation. Now the bar is to cut everything they can to move their bottom line and give just enough to make it okay and wonder why people lose or lost interest.”

“At the end of the day, casuals don’t care about aero. They don’t care about engine packages. They don’t care about the tire wear. They just wanna be entertained. They don’t even care where their favorite driver runs. They just wanna be entertained, whether they ran 1st or 34th. They… Just… Wanna… Be… Entertained.”

Addressing the strong reaction his posts generated, Hocevar acknowledged that while he loves NASCAR, the way fans watch races at home can be vastly improved. “I like nascar. by no means get that misplaced in translation of ardour and criticism of itself,” he wrote. “My number one complaint is having to convince people that it’s better in person to make someone become a fan because it’s that big of a difference. I am so over saying that line.”