In last weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway, 22-year-old Carson Hocevar and veteran Ricky Stenhouse Jr. collided on track – ending the day for Stenhouse. But Hocevar was able to rally to a second-place finish – tying his career best showing in the NASCAR Cup Series.
After the race, Stenhouse was understandably riled, but both drivers report that they have spoken, and all is good moving forward even if they don’t necessarily agree on how last week played out.
“Me and him both have the reputation, I guess, of being aggressive at times and everything, so at that one point, we both reminded each other that even with those reputations, we’ve raced each other very well together, right?’’ the Michigan-native Hocevar said Saturday morning, before practice. “It clashes together. So, yeah, I mean we’ve had no issues before, as he had said, and I feel like we’ve had a decent relationship leading up to this.”
Stenhouse told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week that he was satisfied with the conversation between the two, “I thought it was productive and, based off his comments, I felt like it was received productive.”
Hocevar, who qualified 14th for the NASCAR Cup Series race and is also competing in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, seemed at peace with where things sit and conceded he would rather be talking about his No. 77 Spire Motorsports team’s improvement. He’s already had a career best pair of runner-up efforts and also earned three top-10s – half of his full season total last year.
Asked Saturday if he was satisfied to be known for his aggressive driving style – some reporters comparing him to his hero Dale Earnhardt – Hocevar insisted he’s just being himself.
“Everything about me is real… like I’m not trying to play a part, try to fit a role or trying to pretend to be anybody,’’ he said. “But, you know, it’s for everybody else to decide on what they get and perceive of me. I know who I am and, you know, ultimately, I want to be known as me and sometimes that leads to comparisons.”
