Kevin Harvick shared his advice for Carson Hocevar after the latter got blamed for a multi-car crash at Michigan. While Harvick believes Hocevar’s driving suits the Gen 7 car, he hopes the young driver will realise his mistakes.
On paper, Hocevar had a pretty good day at his home turf. Starting on pole, the Spire driver nabbed top-10 stage results, scored the fastest lap bonus, finished fifth, and walked away with the second-most points.
However, the No.77 driver irked drivers for causing a nine-car pileup during a mid-race restart. Hocevar stepped out when the field stacked up bumper to bumper, but the move ended up turning around John Hunter Nemechek, triggering a chain reaction that took out 2024 Michigan winner Tyler Reddick.
Harvick weighed in on the latest episode of Happy Hour, saying,
“I think that my advice to Carson Hocevar from the beginning of the year to now would be much different. I think that he’s learned enough about how to manage the situations and not tear up his own car. He’s going to continue to put people in a bad spot, but I think that’s how you’ve got to race the Gen 7 car.” [21:23 onwards]
“He’s going to teach himself all those things, and I think that when he goes back and looks at this video he’s going to realize, ‘I could have prevented that just with a couple feet to the left and hitting him square’. That’s really what caused the wreck. He probably could have hit him with the same speed,” he added.
NASCAR insider backs Carson Hocevar despite Michigan mishap
NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi praised Carson Hocevar despite his controversial hiccup at Michigan. However, he did admit that Hocevar’s aggressive driving would come at a cost.
On the latest episode of The Teardown podcast, Bianchi said,
“Say what you will, but he almost won the race today. He had a tenth-place finish last week at Nashville. He’s having a remarkable year. He’s carrying Spire Motorsports to a better performance than they’ve ever had.”
Bianchi also noted that it’s all part of Carson Hocevar’s ‘maturation as a young driver’. He believes the 23-year-old will soon figure out where to be aggressive and where to back out.
Hocevar has earned the reputation of a brash driver since his rookie season. Last year, the Michigan native made headlines for wrecking Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on multiple occasions. The two almost came to blows at one point, as Stenhouse threatened to beat up Hocevar after the Mexico City race.
This year, the Spire driver ended his winless journey and took the top step at Talladega. He’s now ranked among the top-10 with four top-5s to his name.
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