Carson Hocevar: I’d Rather Fail at 100% Than Ride Around Safe

Summary

Summary of "Carson Hocevar: I’d Rather Fail at 100% Than Ride Around Safe" - The Dale Jr. Download

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Dale Jr. Download
• Host/Author: Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM
• Guest: Carson Hocevar
• Episode Title: Carson Hocevar: I’d Rather Fail at 100% Than Ride Around Safe
• Release Date: July 9, 2025

Overview: In this compelling episode of The Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR's beloved host, Dale Earnhardt Jr., sits down with rising Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar. The conversation delves deep into Carson's racing journey, his aggressive driving style, experiences with team dynamics, and his approach to balancing competitive spirit with personal growth. Listeners are offered an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs of becoming a top-tier NASCAR driver, enriched with firsthand insights and reflective moments.

---

Introduction to Carson Hocevar

Dale Earnhardt Jr. begins the episode by introducing Carson Hocevar, highlighting his transition from late model racing to a full-time Cup Series driver. Dale reminisces about first encountering Carson's name in an iRacing event, impressed by his raw talent and the potential he saw in him.

Key Points:

• Carson's journey from late model racing to full-time Cup Series.
• Dale's early recognition of Carson's speed and potential.
• The ongoing efforts to refine Carson's racing skills and integrate him into the team.

Notable Quotes:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. [01:57]: "We have real, real speed, but there's a little work to do and you want to be, you know, you're hopeful that when you get that person in your team, you can support them and build around them."

---

Early Career and Racing Path

Carson shares his early beginnings in racing, starting with quarter midgets and progressing through various racing classes. His father's involvement in sponsoring young racers, including connections with notable figures like Johnny Benson, was pivotal in his development.

Key Points:

• Starting with quarter midgets and transitioning to outlaw late models.
• The significance of mastering racing at Berlin Raceway.
• Progression through ARCA and Truck Series, leading to the Cup Series.

Notable Quotes:

• Carson Hocevar [37:55]: "We're going to learn to race Berlin, but we need to test during the winter and we need to teach it."

---

Streaming, Social Media, and Personal Interests

The discussion shifts to Carson's interest in streaming and maintaining a social media presence. Carson enjoys sim racing and uses it as a tool to stay connected with the racing community during downtime. He streams from the team's sim rig, finding both solace and focus through online racing platforms.

Key Points:

• Balancing real-life racing with virtual engagement through sim racing.
• Managing personal social media accounts to share authentic content.
• Challenges and strategies for maintaining an engaging online presence.

Notable Quotes:

• Carson Hocevar [07:13]: "I was just like, hey, I'm there. I go to racetracks. I don't know what to do. Do you?"
• Carson Hocevar [10:22]: "I don't use TikTok that much. I use Instagram and I seem to have a basic understanding of what people want to."

---

Aggressive Driving Style and Racing Incidents

A significant portion of the episode focuses on Carson's aggressive driving style and the incidents that have shaped his career. He recounts specific events, such as the collision with Riley Stenhouse Jr. in Mexico City, reflecting on his competitive nature and the fine line between assertiveness and reckless driving.

Key Points:

• Carson's innate competitiveness and desire to win at all costs.
• Specific racing incidents illustrating the consequences of aggressive tactics.
• The impact of these incidents on his reputation and relationships within the sport.

Notable Quotes:

• Carson Hocevar [66:14]: "I have to hit him in every corner."
• Carson Hocevar [66:28]: "I'm just trying to race my ass off from one to the end."

---

Growth, Team Dynamics, and Personal Development

Dale and Carson explore the dynamics within Carson's team, particularly his relationship with team owner Jeff Dickerson. Jeff's high expectations and supportive approach push Carson to elevate his performance while fostering a professional and cohesive team environment.

Key Points:

• The role of Team Spire in supporting Carson's aggressive style.
• Balancing personal ambition with team goals and harmony.
• The importance of mentorship and constructive feedback in Carson's growth.

Notable Quotes:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. [93:51]: "You’re one of those guys that are going to fill in that bucket of the, you know, kind of the, the wild card, the one that may be unpredictable."
• Carson Hocevar [95:26]: "I have a team that they kind of just threw me the keys, you know, halfway through year one."

---

Challenges and Future Outlook

Carson reflects on the pressures of professional racing, emphasizing every race as an opportunity to prove himself. He acknowledges the continuous effort required to stay competitive and the importance of managing his aggressive tendencies to avoid detrimental impacts on his career and team relations.

Key Points:

• The constant drive to excel and seize every racing opportunity.
• Learning from past mistakes to refine driving strategies.
• The future aspirations to balance aggression with strategic racing for sustained success.

Notable Quotes:

• Carson Hocevar [20:25]: "I never gonna lose an opportunity because I was nervous or was just like, oh, just, you know, they want me to. To ride around today."
• Carson Hocevar [76:50]: "When I'm racing, I don't half the time know what I'm doing. It's just autopilot."

---

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Dale concludes the episode by expressing confidence in Carson's potential and the positive trajectory of Team Spire. He appreciates Carson’s honesty and introspection, believing that Carson’s willingness to reflect on mistakes will contribute significantly to his growth as a driver.

Key Points:

• Optimism about Carson's future in NASCAR.
• The importance of diverse personalities within racing teams for competition and entertainment.
• Carson as a pivotal figure in the evolving landscape of NASCAR, representing the future of the sport.

Notable Quotes:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. [107:03]: "This is a great conversation with Carson Hocevar, one of the drivers in the Cup series today and polarizing figures been, you know, been polarizing, I think, since he got into the truck series and appreciate him coming on and talking to us and being willing to really reflect a little bit on some of the not so finer moments."

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Sim Racing and Isolation:

  • Carson Hocevar [03:50]: "This is the only superstition I got on race days is I gotta go get the biggest sugary drink ever. It's a frappuccino."

• On Social Media Approach:

  • Carson Hocevar [10:22]: "I don't use TikTok that much. I use Instagram and I seem to have a basic understanding of what people want."

• On Aggressive Driving and Incidents:

  • Carson Hocevar [66:14]: "I have to hit him in every corner."
  • Carson Hocevar [66:28]: "I'm just trying to race my ass off from one to the end."

• On Team and Growth:

  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. [93:52]: "You’re one of those guys that are going to fill in that bucket of the, you know, kind of the, the wild card, the one that may be unpredictable."
  • Carson Hocevar [95:26]: "I have a team that they kind of just threw me the keys, you know, halfway through year one."

• On Future and Potential:

  • Carson Hocevar [95:26]: "I have a team that they kind of just threw me the keys, you know, halfway through year one."

---

Final Notes

This episode of The Dale Jr. Download offers a profound insight into Carson Hocevar's aggressive yet passionate approach to racing. His candid reflections on past mistakes and the support from his team highlight the complexities of professional racing. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s thoughtful questioning and encouragement provide a balanced perspective, acknowledging Carson's strengths while addressing areas for growth. As NASCAR continues to evolve, Carson Hocevar stands out as a driver with the potential to shape the sport's future through his determination and relentless pursuit of excellence.

Transcript

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, Dale. Yo.

[TJ Majors]

What are we doing for lunch today? I'm getting kind of hungry.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I'm already on it. It's actually going to be delivered soon. Arby's Angus cheesesteak with a side of curly fries is on the way. It's the ultimate meat and cheese combination for steak lovers like you and me. It's actually the perfect balance of quarter pound of Angus steak, melted American cheese fire roasted peppers and onions with a nice garlic spread to tie it all together. It's a must try. That's going to be our lunch sandwich.

[TJ Majors]

Sounds delicious. But there's one thing I've learned is if you're talking about food, I got to trust you on this. You've never failed me yet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I have not.

[TJ Majors]

No, you've nailed it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, there you go, man. This sandwich has it all. When I first tried this, I was at the shop checking on the race cars and stuff, seeing if the guys need anything. We ordered up some Arby's and when this Angus cheesesteak arrived, I was blown away by how much steak is actually on this thing. Definitely big enough to satisfy your hunger. Tastes like a true American classic. Everybody check out your nearest Arby's today to try this Angus cheesesteak. And if you want it delivered like we do, use code dale for $0 delivery when you order through the Arby's app. That's code D A L E on the app, available for a limited time at participating U.S. locations. While supplies last, get the most out of your vehicle with GM genuine parts.

[Carson Hocevar]

And Acdelco original equipment.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The only parts designed, engineered, tested and.

[Carson Hocevar]

Backed by General Motors. Whether or not you drive a GM.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Vehicle, you can find your perfect fit.

[Carson Hocevar]

For most makes and models and choose from three tiers of parts including GM OE or gold and silver aftermarket parts. Visit gmparts.com for more information. You know, I wasn't trying to, you know, ideally wreck him. Yeah. But my plan was to hit him in every corner.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

I thought he was trying to get away from me and he was going to slide and we're going to slide and I just vacuum. Right. And yeah, that. That whole night, I mean, I mean, I remember, like anytime I see the video, I'm just embarrassed of it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. All right, so let's get started. We got a great show today for the Dale Jr. Download guest edition and Carson Hocevar is going to be the guest to come in here. I remember seeing Carson's name on the running order in an iracing event One day and I remember going, who is that? You know, that sounds familiar. And people telling me, yeah, a little late model racer getting into some truck races. I remember just seems like yesterday and it. And here he is now a full time cup driver and it's been a rocky road. He is very fast. He has absolute raw talent. The best kind of driver that you kind of love to get under your wing or in your building. Their projects, they have real, real speed, but there's a little work to do and you want to be, you know, you're hopeful that when you get that person in your team that you can support them and build around them and help them develop and into the perfect race car driver. So he's in that process right now. We're going to talk about some of those rocky moments. We're going to talk about, we're going to learn together really where he came from and what he did and how, how much support he had getting here. I'm not sure exactly, you know, where this kid came from outside of the truck series, so should be a lot of fun. I've spent some time around him, had conversations with him in the past, all smiles and he has a positive outlook and he's enjoying life. So let's get him in the room and get started. What you got? What's that?

[Carson Hocevar]

This is the only superstition I got on race days is I gotta go get the biggest sugary drink ever. It's a frappuccino.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I got you. Carson. Joseph.

[Carson Hocevar]

Are.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How's it going?

[Carson Hocevar]

Good man.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, pretty good.

[Carson Hocevar]

No, I appreciate it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What is ride the dog? How do you say? The dente. Dente? What is the dente?

[Carson Hocevar]

It's so they have the Presidente, like margarita.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And so like, you know, they wanted to, you know, marketing campaign and everything. So the dente is, you know, just short for presidente. But it's. They've been telling me it's like their number one like marketing campaign. Like normally like, you know, they, they do something and it spikes and tapers down and you know, it's just a flash.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Your Chili's people?

[Carson Hocevar]

That's my Chili's folks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Auto Group, Ziegler.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. Ziggler Auto Group. They, they do, they do, you know, car dealerships and everything. And they are from Portage, like literally. His kid graduated the same, you know, year as me high school. We sat right next to each other. But I was, I was from, I was online school. So his, he went back to his dad and was just like, hey, there's this kid like nobody Knew who the he was, basically. And, you know, he drives race cars. And my. He knew him. And, you know, years later, they, you know, Jeff Dickerson was just like, hey, do you want to, you know, sign this kid? He's from your hometown. And so he jumped on and, you know, we've been together for the last.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Coincidence?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. Super crazy.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Very crazy. Where do we begin? A lot here.

[Carson Hocevar]

I was wondering where you're gonna start.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, well, I want to know whose idea it was to put the SIM rig in the top of the hauler.

[Carson Hocevar]

That was mine. That was mine.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How do you ask? Who do you ask to do that?

[Carson Hocevar]

So I went to. I went to Luke.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Your crew chief?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, my crew chief, Lambert. And I was just like, hey, man. Like, I have, like, you know, multiple rigs at my house and.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

How many rigs do you have?

[Carson Hocevar]

So I have two at my house and I have two in Michigan at home. And. And I was home for holidays. Like, I'm getting ready to come back NASCAR world. And I was just like, hey, like, I'm just literally looking at this rig in my basement of just like, I could put this in the hauler. Like, we have brand new haulers, brand new everything. I was like, hey, we'll have space for this. And.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And where is the space?

[Carson Hocevar]

So it's literally. So we didn't plan on taking backup cars in my hauler because you kind of split it. So the space is where the backup car would be. Like, they kind of wanted, you know, when rain delays, they want the, you know, pick your guys to get out and get up and not just lay in the hallway. You know, if they're trying to bring guests, they could get upstairs. So we have couches and stuff upstairs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wow.

[Carson Hocevar]

So I have a little nook at the very front of the second level where the. Where the brig sits. And they've loved it. The first time I had, it was Daytona 500 practice, and I was almost late because I was up there, right? But they've. They've loved it just because I'm up there running. And I remember I was running. I was running Atlanta races, you know, super speedways. Like, I mean, you know, I racing, like, that's probably the closest they got is the superspeedways, you know, just because you get to race and do everything. And then, you know, we ran second. We were, you know, we ran really well at the spring Atlanta, but we were making every move possible. And, you know, they accredited the SIM rig because they're like, man, you probably did like 300 miles up there and then got back out and ran.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you're streaming too, up there. Yeah, I noticed that you streamed and.

[Carson Hocevar]

So, yeah, it gets lonely up there. So I started like. Because you're just like, eventually you're just racing and like, I'm doing it at noon on a Saturday, so a lot of my buddies aren't. Aren't iracing, so I'll just turn it on.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

A lot of drivers aren't at the track, though. You just go ahead and go. Since you got the rig there.

[Carson Hocevar]

I just go. I'm there. I go to. I go. I love racetracks. I don't. I don't. I don't know what to do. Do you? I got a RV finally. Or I borrow Ivy. We rent. Rent, whatever. But I mean, there's a lot of times I'll just, you know, I can't sleep, so I'll just go off the racetrack middle of the night and go sneak into the hauler and race all night and, you know, be in the sim rig. So, like, there's. There's times where you have snuck into.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

The garage in the middle of the night and got into your sim rig.

[Carson Hocevar]

I mean, sneak in is light.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Most time I just, you know, the gate guys, like, what. You know, I'm wearing my own shirt most of the time, and they're just like, what in the, you know, hell are you doing here? And I'm just like, hey, man. Like, you know, you know, my face is right there. Can I. Can I go run? And I'm trying to explain to him, and he's just like, yeah, man, what. Whatever you want to do. Or vice versa. Where they got the gate, like, actually locked. And I'm inside because I've been running all night and like, it's, you know, late at night, I'm like, all right, I need to go. And. And I. All the gates are shut, so I gotta call somebody and just be like, hey, still in the garage. So I'll be in there a lot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, when you're streaming. So I've seen who does the who. You'll stream. And you'll stream from home too. And somebody cuts that stuff up. Who's cutting it up?

[Carson Hocevar]

Brandon Pearl. He plays, you know, he plays iracing all the time and runs a bunch of stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're one of your online buddies?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. So I got connected with him and it was after Daytona, like, you know, we had like 4,000 people during the.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Kind of. Somewhat manages your twitch with you.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, yeah, kinda, you know, he'll. He'll watch all My streams and you know, he'll just text me clips and I'm just like, you know, he'll have it all edited and stuff and I'll cut some things out there. I'm like, I don't know if we should post that or I don't know, you know, and I'll spice them. You know, I'll just cut some of his work together and send it out. And he started to do that. Some of the race stuff. Like every now and again I'll like, I was done with Pocono and I. He's like, lol. Sorry, but I edited this and thought was funny and it was like my radio and stuff and I already put it out. But I, I do all my own social, so.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You do all your own social.

[Carson Hocevar]

Every post that is out there, it's me. Yeah, every post.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right.

[Carson Hocevar]

You can tell it's me if it's not me ever, because I, I don't use caps and I don't grammar check and I think it's cool.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, well, I like that you do it. And I, I don't. I think, you know, I, you know, there's some things that are going to get posted that are like business related, race related, job related, and I'm not going to post it any differently than the person that ends up posting it.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But I too do all of my own social media as well. I kind of enjoy it. Do you have TikTok?

[Carson Hocevar]

I do, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't, I have one, but I.

[Carson Hocevar]

Don'T, I don't under.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know how to use.

[Carson Hocevar]

I don't. All I do is just repost some stuff or put like. It's kind of a mix of like Instagram and reels. Yeah. Like, like, I, sometimes I put pictures with video when like I want to like be all like sappy or like motivational and stuff. And then like every now and again I'm just like, ah, this might be funny.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, I don't use Tick Tock that much. I use. I like Instagram and I seem to have a basic understanding of what people want to. What people expect out of your profile on X versus Instagram. I don't know that I have the content or create the content personally.

[Carson Hocevar]

Right.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. I could have a team. We have dirty my media. They could create all kinds of cool for Tick Tock. But me personally walking around town and just living my life, I'm not.

[Carson Hocevar]

You don't know what they want to see.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't know what. I don't know what I would put on there.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of the same.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What would I. What would I.

[Carson Hocevar]

So, like, I don't use. Let's, like, I post stuff.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What could I tik tok.

[Carson Hocevar]

I mean, right? I mean, Honestly, you're Dale Jr. You could just post your morning routine. There was. That was a trend for a minute was your morning routine.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Morning routine, yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

It was all, like, obnoxious. Like, somebody woke up at like 3:50am and they're, like, doing, like, ice baths and, like, working out and, like, they're making breakfast and they're like wife and banana peel. That was a trend. You could have tik tok that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That would have been funny. So you just need to know what the trends are. You just need to know, kind of do whatever.

[Carson Hocevar]

But, like, there's a lot of times where, like, I don't, like, want to follow the trends. Like, sometimes if I, like, genuinely think they're funny, but I follow that on Instagram.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What I'm having a hard time with is, like, on Instagram, you know, if I. If we. If we. If something happens, like, we. We win a race. Xfinity race or something. Like, I'll get a collection of photos and post a little photo dump on Instagram. Great day at the track.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Pretty simple, right? Or there might be a reel or something of the kids being goofy on the beach or whatever. Right. Yeah. And. And so that seems to really make sense to me. But I don't know what to put on TikTok, because none of that stuff feels like it belongs on TikTok.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I don't Tick Tock.

[Carson Hocevar]

I've never. It's kind of just. It's weird.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Tick Tock feels like it's this weird competition.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, who's got. Who's got talent? Well, that, like a. You know what I mean?

[Carson Hocevar]

It's kind of like a job. For a while it was like a job audition to, like, go, like, acting and stuff, because, like, that's what it seemed. And then it's more like, well, then.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Everybody kind of like, America's who's Got Talent, and everybody's on there.

[Carson Hocevar]

It kind of copied every. Well, it didn't help that everybody, like, copied Tick Tock. Like, Instagram copied Tick Tock. Twitter kind of copied it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I think Tick Tock copied Instagram.

[Carson Hocevar]

That's true. Well, so they. Well, they were only videos, and then they started adding photos and then.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, they all do.

[Carson Hocevar]

They all just kind of just like, oh, you're doing this.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We'll do this twitch. I, I, when we had the Pandemic, I bought all the. So, you know, I gotta. I love my sim rig, and I've had the same sim rig since probably 2020. And it's fine. TJ has one of those square tube aluminum ones, which I like a lot because it has. There's a lot of accessories that are specific to that, that type of a build. Mine's a tubes tube rig, so I can't really clamp and bolt things to it and add, Add Fun, but I still love it. And when we were in the Pandemic, I had another. I bought a. I figured out how to send my video signal and audio out of my rig through a network in my home into another PC so I could actually.

[Carson Hocevar]

Oh, you had like a streaming PC?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, had a streaming PC and I did it just like you're doing it. But I wasn't on, I wasn't doing it all from the same box because I didn't want anything to like, drag my iracing experience down. Right.

[Carson Hocevar]

And so, yeah, I'm too, I'm not technical. I would have thrown my PC out the window the second that thing stopped working or like, I just like plugging stuff in.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know. But I. So a long time ago, probably about five or six years ago, I had some micro stutters in the corners on some, some of the racetracks. And ever since, when you see those, you can't unsee.

[Carson Hocevar]

It's over.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You can't unsee them.

[Carson Hocevar]

You can't unsee ever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so every time you get in a race or get into practice or whatever, you kind of like, you're kind of looking for them, even though you're not. You're still kind of playing and having fun, but you're still like, are we good? Are we smooth as we can be? Because it's gotta be glass, you know?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so I put, that's why I ran everything through the network and pushed the audio and the video through the network into the second PC. And I had a monitor for that PC over here. I had it all set up, had the lights, had all the, had the microphone. I mean, I spent all this money and probably streamed, I streamed all those Fox Races. We did.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And it was pretty fun. I really enjoyed it. You know. And then Kyle Larson made his big mistake and all of us were like, holy.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, let's. I'm not, you know, everybody got. I, I wasn't really worried about making a mistake. It was more like, now this is taboo.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Like, oh, to do it right. And if you were there, if you go and start streaming, everybody be like, oh, don't do what he did. You know, you're gonna hear all that.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And so I was like, all right. Freaking.

[Carson Hocevar]

It's not worth the risk.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I tore all my down. So the other week, you had a little bit of a, you know, a little bit of a comment about Mexico City. You're. You made your own very well written social media post, which I thought, look, I read it. I'm like, he wrote this. I can tell he wrote it. And which I then appreciate the. I appreciate the sentiment because I know it came strict straight from you. Not. It wasn't like somebody was sitting there with you going, okay, that's what we're going to say. And so. But does it make you. I guess what I think, what I. What I think you might be doing is, like, learning the ropes, you know, you're not gonna. I don't want you to stop streaming. I don't want you to stop being who you are. I think the fact that you have a sim rig in the truck is awesome because I would have never asked my guys to let me do that, even though I wanted to, you know, because, you know, oh, you don't want your crew chief to think you're not serious. But it's like, you know, what sim rigs and what iracing and sim racing are today are different than 10 years ago. Nobody took it seriously back then. Everybody laughed at me when I said, you know, iracing was a nice tool for a driver. But do you think that, you know, the streaming, the racing, the conflicts on track and all those things are just part of your maturity, maturation?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest thing for. For me is like, you know, I wouldn't, you know, if I didn't enjoy streaming and I didn't enjoy racing, and if I didn't enjoy everything, I wouldn't do it. Like, there's not like, anybody just like, oh, we need to stream and. Or, you know, and, you know, the first thing that, you know, obviously I made that mistake of saying that stuff, and I was just like, you know, for me, I was just like, yeah, okay, I'll take a break. But I was like, you know, there's a bunch of people that were just like, oh, so you're just done, right? Like, even my buddy who does clips for me is just like, oh, man. Like, I thought we had.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, we had a good thing.

[Carson Hocevar]

We had a good thing going here. Like, your socials are, like, doubled since and, you know, and I was just like, just give me two weeks, you know, three weeks, you know, just. Just, you know, let me have some time to, you know, reflect on it, and we'll get going again.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's right.

[Carson Hocevar]

And, yeah, I think the biggest thing is, like, I. You know, I. I felt like, for me, you know, I've been a fan of everybody. Growing up, I was number one fan of you. But, like, that's weird. Watch. Yeah, it's a little weird. Yeah. But, like, for me, you know, I want to race and be exactly what I wanted you to race. Like, and be like, you know, I'm sure you didn't want me to race. Like, you know, I was hoping maybe hit some, but, like, I. You know, just. I wanted to be a fan of me. Right? Like, I wanted. Like, I wanted to be the person I am today and, you know, look back and just be like, you know, the kid. You know, I would be a fan of me watching, if that makes sense. Right. Like, I don't want to. You know, number one other thing, too, for me is I touched on this when Carl Edwards asked me, and I was just like, you know, I feel like, you know, I didn't want to take my lumps and just, you know, miss out on these, you know, opportunities young or whatever. You know, every race is opportunity, and when you're at the end of it, you're always going to wish you had one more or one more opportunity or look back of just like, man, it would have been nice to have this or this. And, you know, ever since I got in a cup car, I was just like. Or even a race car was just, you know. You know, I'm never going to lose an opportunity because I was nervous or, you know, was just like, oh, just, you know, they. They want me to. To ride around today. You know, that's what they want me to do. You know, first time I got in a Cup car, it was like, you're gonna run 30th, you have to learn how to get out of the way. You're gonna have to. And I was just like, this is all y' all think of me like that. That was the most easiest I was ever going into a race. I had more pressure driving your Xfinity car than that cup car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Because it was just like, well, like, I was like, I. I thought I was supposed to win in this and this. Like, man, they're telling me, as long as I'm three laps down, I did a good job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And, you know, I've Just kind of just taken that with me of just, you know, I'm never. I don't. I. I much rather lose out going 100% or, you know, my best and it not being good enough. You know, I feel like I'm gonna make it now, but, you know, that's how it was, and I've just kind of carried that through of just like every race is an opportunity. You never know when the last one is. And when you're done, no matter if it's 20 years from now, you're always going to look back and just be like, man, I think I could have won this one if I tried harder or just knew this then. So I just try and speed up that. That timeline. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I look back on my career and definitely know that I should have worked harder. Right. And I think everybody's going to do that. Everybody's going to look back and go, oh, I could have done more, you know, Definitely look back on my career. Mainly not in the Hendrick years. You had to work. They made you work. Yeah, they let me off the hook in the Bud years. Like, the. The Yuris were mean, tough, awesome, badass. They're my family. I love them to death. But I honestly wish Tony Sr. Was even more harsh on me because, like, on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, he should have been on my ass to be over there. Right. But I was like, I'm gonna off. I'm gonna play video games, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. Not. And not train or not study. That wasn't even a thing back then. We didn't meet and have competition meetings and. But we should have been. But I. I wish I would have applied myself a little better in the first half of my career because I had really, really good cars, and I. And I wonder what might have been of those, you know, if I had worked as hard in the Bud years as I did in the Hendrick years. Right. But at the same time, I also wish that I would have had more fun because there were some days where I was like, nah, I'm not gonna go. My buddies asked me to go to the concert. My buddies, you know, the guys are doing this or the friends are doing that or the team's doing this, and I'm like, I'm just gonna lay around, you know.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, you missed out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And so there's. There's, I guess, like, you know, to your point about, I guess, staying on the gas litter, you know, metaphorically. Metaphorically, yeah. I mean, that's a good way to look at it. Because you're right. You know, you're going to get down this road one day, and you can't do it again. You don't get to go back and try that all over again. And so let's. Let's talk about the Dell truck.

[Carson Hocevar]

All right, go ahead.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right. Earlier this spring, you bought a 1997 Silverado single cab, painted up like the number three. Good wrench. Skinner Earnhardt.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And you. It's your daily driver. Did you drive it today?

[Carson Hocevar]

I didn't drive it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Didn't drive it.

[Carson Hocevar]

So hold on. So it's in. It's in Michigan.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, why is it good? What the hell?

[Carson Hocevar]

So hold on. So we were on the plane.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Wasn't it here?

[Carson Hocevar]

It was here. So we were. We were flying, and we ran good somewhere, and I think we ran. It might have been right after. It must have been Nashville. Ran second. Michigan's next week. And I'm sitting on the plane, and Jeff Dickerson just looks at me and goes, hey, man, you're going up early for Michigan, right? You're racing Berlin and this and that. He goes, all right, you know, you'll. You'll get Dale truck on Wednesday. I was like, you know, what the hell are you talking about? Yeah, we're sending a show car up for Ziggler and everything. I'm throwing the Dale truck in there. We got a good thing going. Like, we just ran second. We ran good. Dale truck's gonna be there. You're gonna drive it around all week. Hold on, man. Seriously. And so it went up there, and, you know, we. We ran good. So, like, it was like, oh, perfect. But he shipped the deal. He shipped the Dale truck.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You didn't drive it up there?

[Carson Hocevar]

Didn't drive it up there because they. Because I had to do an appearance. But, like, we. We somewhat joked about me and Jeff just riding. Yeah, Riding, you know, uno mas and, you know, shotgun and whatever. Just rolling and, you know, going down there and going through the mountains and stuff and fun. And we talked about driving it back, and the starter broke on it. Oh, and. Or the starter gauge broke on it. And so it's up there. Had to get worked on. And I was just like, all right, hold on. My buddy Tim Horvath is up there. He wraps all my stuff. He's going to nail this. And so it's getting rewrapped right now to be more accurate because there's some, like, stickers, like, there's inaccuracies and. Yeah, like, there's some logos that, like, the good wrench is too small, and you're going to. And it was driving me nuts. And when you drive it every day, you notice the. The nooks and crannies of. This is not wrong.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Do you have the. The new wrap?

[Carson Hocevar]

I have the layout of it, and he's drawn out every sticker. So it's going to be the 97 car is what he's.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What you're going for.

[Carson Hocevar]

Going for. Since it's 97 truck. And that's the same year that, you know, your dad flipped and then got back in. So, like, there's a cool story for there. So that's what we're gonna do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, well, I'm looking forward to seeing the detail because I'm the same way. Like, we. This number two car. Look, that number. That 1980 championship car. Like, I had to remake a lot of those decals. The contingency stuff didn't exist anymore. And I. Yeah. Had to remake a lot of that stuff. And it's like. And I'm looking at the photos of the car, and I'm like, yeah, you're comparing it. Moving things like eighth and quarter of an inch, trying to make sure everything's, like, where it's supposed to be.

[Carson Hocevar]

Well, he spent. He spent about two weeks so far drawing out all these logos and us going back and forth. So it's been fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That'll be cool.

[Carson Hocevar]

I'll text it to you when. When he's done.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So why did you. Where'd you find it?

[Carson Hocevar]

Facebook Marketplace. So I've been looking for. I was looking for an old truck or just something and. And just something fun to drive. I get tired of looking at iPads and stuff on my dash and everything, and I just want something like, that's old school.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You wanted something nostalgic.

[Carson Hocevar]

Something that I could just ride and it's nice and smooth and I could go for rides. Cause I love. I just love driving and stuff. So, like, I was just like, I just need something nice. And we were at Phoenix and we qualified third. And I was just looking on Facebook Marketplace. I always just scroll and just see what's funny or what's cool on there. And I find this truck and I send it to all my buddies, and they're like, you should buy it. I was just like, no. Like, no, I'm not buying this thing. Like, I was like, I'd love to, but, like, it's a lot of money. I don't spend. I don't like to spend money now. I'm good. And they're like, no, you really should. So I was like, fine, I'll send it to my business guy, Philip Smalley. I'll send it to him, and I'll just get shot down and I can just put the end to it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And I don't know if he was just pumped that we qualified third.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And he just said, hell, yes. And I was just like, seriously? He's like, yes, you should buy this. Like, you should love it or you will love it. And I was like, for real?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

I was like, so we wired. I was sitting there in the grandstands of the Xfinity race, and before the Xfinity race was over, we already wired them up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You want to get shot down, you should just get a wife.

[Carson Hocevar]

It's probably true.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

She would have told you.

[Carson Hocevar]

Absolutely. No. That's why I'm. I'm enjoying. I'm enjoying my race cars right now. I'm enjoying my race cars.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Boy, Dale Trucks, you don't get to choose when that happens.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, I'm taking it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And that happens. You're along for the ride.

[Carson Hocevar]

I hear you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, tj, you know that I got my own Chevy dealership down in Tallahassee, Florida. We're part of the Hendrick Automotive Group.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yes, I have heard of Darren Hurt Jr. Chevrolet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I bet you'd be surprised on what type of Chevrolet vehicles we specialize in.

[Carson Hocevar]

If I had to guess, I'm gonna say it would probably be Chevy trucks.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, we definitely sell plenty of those, but actually we're really big in commercial vehicles. We actually sell a lot of crane trucks. We're the number one seller, actually, in crane trucks.

[Carson Hocevar]

Okay, I definitely did not see that coming. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Pretty neat, huh? So, for any of our listeners shopping for commercial vehicles, here's some things you need to know about us at Dalenhardt Jr. Chevrolet. We have hundreds trucks in stock, so you can find what you need fast. And we have people there that can help you with custom orders. So if you want to build the exact vehicle you need, we can do it. We offer complimentary delivery anywhere in the continental U.S. plus, Hendrick Automotive Group is the nation's top rated dealer group. For online reputation, visit dalejrchevy.com and click Commercial to explore the wide range of available commercial vehicles. Our team at Dylan Hart Jr. Chevrolet will give you a world class experience. Chevrolet together. Let's drive. Hey, Dale. Yo.

[TJ Majors]

What are we doing for lunch today? I'm getting kind of hungry.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, I'm already on it. It's actually going to be delivered soon. Arby's Angus cheesesteak with a side of curly fries is on the way. It's the ultimate meat and cheese combination for steak lovers like you and me. It's actually the perfect balance of quarter pound of Angus steak, melted American cheese fire roasted peppers and onions with a nice garlic spread to tie it all together. It's a must try. That's going to be our lunch sandwich.

[TJ Majors]

Sounds delicious. But there's one thing I've learned is if you're talking about food, I got to trust you on this. You've never failed me yet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I have not?

[TJ Majors]

No, you've nailed it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well, there you go, man, this sandwich has it all. When I first tried this, I was at the shop checking on the race cars and stuff, see if the guys need anything. We ordered up some Arby's, and when this Angus cheesesteak arrived, I was blown away by how much steak is actually on this thing. Definitely big enough to satisfy your hunger. Tastes like a true American classic. Everybody check out your nearest Arby's today to try this Angus cheesesteak. And if you want it delivered like we do, use code dale for $0delivery when you order through the Arby's app. That's code D A L E on the app, available for a limited time at participating U.S. locations while supplies last. Had you seen the Earnhardt documentary?

[Carson Hocevar]

I have.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

What did you think about that? Did you know all of that stuff?

[Carson Hocevar]

No.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

About dad?

[Carson Hocevar]

No. I mean, I've. I've. I mean, I watched every documentary out there. I mean, I remember I. I had the. My mom found a little dvd, which thing. And I. We thought we lost it, and it had the four. It was Dale.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes, that's the.

[Carson Hocevar]

And then that was the one. But then I. Watching, too. The. When you did. Way back in the day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Carson Hocevar]

So those. Those. Literally anytime we did a road trip. That's why I played.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Really?

[Carson Hocevar]

So it was those. I just watch this on repeat? Yeah, all the time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So when I met Amy, I was like, hey, man, you don't want to tell you about my dad, but I'm not gonna sit here and just ramble. Watch this. We'll watch this Dale documentary. And that's what I made her watch. And because I thought that was the.

[Carson Hocevar]

Best sort of, you know, partially, I was just like. When you got. I mean, when you guys were coming out with it, I was just like. Like, isn't this, like the fourth one?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right?

[Carson Hocevar]

Or whatever? Like, I was like, what?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I know.

[Carson Hocevar]

I was like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We were.

[Carson Hocevar]

I was like, I'm excited to See it, obviously, but I'm just like, man, what. What more could I know be added? I thought it was really good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We were very hesitant because in my opinion, Dale, was it. Dale, Doc, was it. That came out in 07. I was like, that's the document that. The Nothing I would like.

[Carson Hocevar]

That's the gospel right there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, exactly. And. But they. They were. I was like, if y' all can't beat this, I told him. I said, go watch Dale. I was like, if y' all come back and say, we can beat that.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, you'll do it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

We'll do it. You're a race fan at heart. You love. You mentioned you love going to racetracks. You ran. You run. You run a little pro and super late model car around Berlin and other places. You know, you kind of grew up a massive fan. You've got diecast cars in your. In your home and back where you grew up.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, what. What is. I guess, what is the. I love that. That you're. You know, you're a. I don't know if traditionalist is the right word, but you're. You're a core racer and fan of all things motorsports, I would assume. But most. Most likely more so nascar, what is it like, I guess, to grow up with all of those things at your fingertips and being such a massive fan of it and now living out that dream of driving those cars on Sunday. Like, are you. Is it. So. Is it surreal?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Has it kind of. Is there moments where you're like, you know, you kind of. You kind of understand how heavy this is and how big this is?

[Carson Hocevar]

I don't know if I've had or.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Is it good to be oblivious?

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. I don't. I don't. I don't. I've never understood why it wasn't like, a shell shock, like, a bigger deal. I think. I mean, what helped was, you know, by the time I got here, you know, kind of. You know, all those drivers kind of phased out or, you know, like, you know, Kyle Busch, like, he raced late models, and Chase Elliott was running late models just before me, and, you know, Blaney was running late models. And like, all these guys that now I'm racing with, like, I kind of saw them grow up, too, or watch them cannon race and everything. So I think it was more just like. Or maybe I was just delusion of just like, from, like, five years old, I was just like, yeah, I'm gonna be an asc. You're gonna do so. Like, it was just like, you know, anytime it was like a next thing. Like, it was just that. That weird kind of confidence of just like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Like. Yeah. Like, I think the. The most surreal moments is like, you know, like, for me was making it in my. Like, like, not signing. Like, making it for me wasn't signing my contract. It wasn't doing anything. Like, it was like a specific time in races, like, you know, running. You know, filling in for the 42 car at Bristol and running fifth at. In the night race, you know, running as good as we did my first day at St. Louis. But then it was just like, Yeah, I remember, you know, lining up, you know, scuffing my tires at Watkins Glen, and, you know, you're green, white, checkered, number two, lining up on the front row. I remember rolling down the. You know, just after the bus stop, and, like, it was like, I just. Like, everything just, like, got quiet, and I was just like, you know, I just kind of, like, looked around and, like, I never, like, look around. You're just always in the race. Yeah, And I remember just, like, looking around, just going like, God, like. Like. Like this. Like, you know, for me, like, if. If it didn't map. Like, if this wasn't what it all meant out to be, like, I was gonna walk. Like, I would walk away. Like. Like it didn't. Like, it didn't matter, you know, if it. Like, if I could not prove to myself, you know, what. You know, whether. You know, and we've done good enough that, like, I'm playing. I'm playing good. Stan. It's been unbelievable, but, like, you know. You know, if I signed a deal and I just felt fish out of water and everything, I was just like, I'm not. I will never collect a paycheck.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Carson Hocevar]

At this thing. Like, it. Like, it. It. It's got to be life for me. Like, it's got to be racing how I wanted to race, how I was a kid, you know, because, you know, there's times where I'd be watching guys and just feeling like they're. They're there to collect a paycheck or they don't, you know, care to be one spot better. You know, they're. You know, they're not. You don't see the passion out of them. And I was just like, it is against everything in my life to do that. So I was like, I'll never get there.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So you. I would. I remember my. I had a couple of these. This isn't, like, the moment, but I remember one moment that sticks out to me is I was at 1997. I ran, like, a limited schedule in the Xfinity series, and I was. One of those races was St. Louis, and I pulled out a. I pulled out of the garage to practice. Everybody's lining up, waiting on the official to send us onto the track. And I'm. I'm like the 25th or 27th car. I'm way back there. But Terry Labonte was running that particular race, and he also wasn't very high in points. So he's out there with me, and I'm sitting on pit road, and there's Terry Labonte. And I was like, you know, of course I grew up with my dad and idolized the sh. T out of him. Right. And if I was even in the same room with him, it was like I was a fan, you know? You know, just like everybody else. But, man, it was really cool to pull out on the racetrack and look and know that Terry the Bonnie was sitting in that car.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. It's like, like, holy damn.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. Like, you're. Jeff Dickerson always reminds me, like, he'll text me, like, when we were on Good. He's just like, hey, yeah, you're on Custom. Custom player. You. You played the video game today. Congratulations. You know, so, like, that's. That's kind of like where I've always thought of it. It's just like, you know. Yeah. For my whole life, basically, I've. I've. You know, if I'm playing the video game, playing with a die cast, watching the race, like, I'm always thinking of just, like, what would I. What would I do, you know, seven years old of just like, yeah, I wouldn't have made that move or this and that. And, you know, I. I remember, you know, I'd race quarter midgets and, you know, I'd win, like, two races or whatever in my class and, you know, gets kids and, you know, my age and stuff. And my dad sponsored, you know, Mark Shook and Ben Raber at, like, a local division at Kalamazoo Speedway because he thought, you know, that's back when, you know, local sponsors gave, you know, here, there and everything. And, you know, he thought I was just going to be a local hero where you could, you know, you have a day job, but you also race and you can make some money. And, like, he thought, that's us. Like, he's like, man, my kid wants to do this and everything. And he. And, you know, I just remember, you know, I'd get to the racetrack after running my races, and I asked him how he did. And he's just like, yeah, we ran fourth today. And I was just like, God, I would love to just say that.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Like, because I was like, man, I know your fourth means a lot more than like me winning like three races. Like that's just how I always thought of it, you know, when I was a kid was just like, yeah, I won three races today where most kids are just like I'm, you know, the best or just like I, I kicked their ass today, I'm just like, man, I'm just a, like I, I want to be able to say my fourth mattered that much.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And just see how much it mattered to him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So what was your path through racing? What all the car, what classes did you go through?

[Carson Hocevar]

So I ran quarter midgets with Dale Raber and you know, Ben, Ben Raber, who passed away when I was young. He was the one that, you know, we were, I'd walk around. I was the kid at Kalamazoo Speedway that everybody knew. Like, my mom let me go and I'd run around and everything. And you know, he just one day was just like, hey, you know, if your kid loves racing that much, you need to go to, you need to, you know, try quarter midgets. Like so I did quarter midgets and my dad met one of his best friends, Barry Landau, and he told him everything. And Barry knew Eric Jones's dad. So Eric and you know, was a few years ahead of me and you know, his best friends were kind of my friends at the racetrack. But I was like the 7 year old to the 14 year old, right. You know, he kind of got out at 12 and I got in at 7 and you know, I was just the young kid that they happened to, you know, didn't think was stupid basically or just like goofy or whatever. And maybe I was and. But yeah, ranked quarter midgets for multiple years and did that forever. And you know, my dad, you know, through sponsoring some cars, knew they got, built some cars. Johnny Belts, Johnny Benson, built some cars. And you know, my dad was just like, hey man, I really want you to like help my kid out, do everything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Johnny Benson.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, Johnny Benson. And, and Johnny's just like, yeah, whatever man, sure. You know, every kid's next Jeff Gordon. Cool, I'll sell you a car. That's about it. So we went to Hickory, I was 11 years old and went tested and I don't know what he saw because I thought I did terrible. I was completely lost, you know, Ran an outlaw late model on pavement for A while. But he's just, you know, after testing he's just like, hey, we're at Hickory.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

At Hickory.

[Carson Hocevar]

At Hickory. Yeah. We went to Hickory. And he said, he said, number one, we're going to learn to race Berlin, but we need to test during the winter and we need to teach it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And he's like, it was here at Rockingham.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Right.

[Carson Hocevar]

And I was just like, like really?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's like.

[Carson Hocevar]

And big.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's like those. They look like dirt. Wedge cars.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, they're wedge bodied cars and everything. They're 900 horse. Yeah. And so we. Every week I. I drive down to North Carolina and we test. Got approved to somehow race at 12 years old and raced all year, won a heat race, didn't do any Berlin. So everything was just like. He's. He's like, you're not going, you're not racing anywhere else until you learn Berlin. And so I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why Berlin?

[Carson Hocevar]

He said you could erase race it anywhere. If you can race Berlin, you can race anywhere. And I. It didn't take me until like a year or two ago to understand why. But Berlin changes so much. Like one like is so different. It is a different track every time you go. And it's not that the track so hard, it just gives you so many different types of Berlin. You know, someday it's cool and the tracks gripped up and you run the bottom. Some days you run the top. Some days you start running slider lines. Some days you run this and that. And we've won the last two races by running this unique line that this, this local legend Tim DeVos was running when I was there. And we'd laugh at him. We'd sit there and just be like, you know, he quick time every time, but he would just burn the up. He just run in the fifth lane and we just sit there and laugh at him. And now I'm just like, he was ahead of his time. Like now that's the line I run.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And we've won the last few races. But anyway, so I ran wedge body outlaw late models 12. And they went template racing or they had template body late malls, more traditional. And we're just like, all right, we're gonna go, you know, go try that now. Like, I'm running okay in the wedge bodies, but like templates really where we need to go. Cause then we could start traveling. So he, he shipped me off to guy named Mike Bursley and KBR and Don DeWitt and Zach Dunson who still. Who runs my whole late mile program now. Oh, and that's how we stuck with him. And. And so we ran Berlin and did okay in the wedge body late models. That, that's really where I was a lot. Like, I was like, okay, like, I might not be absolutely horrendous here because the outlaw late models, like, I have moments of like running like 4th and then other days I'm spinning out, running backwards and just hit.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And the wedge body, you know, we were like, quick time leading points, you know, never finished worse than like fifth and won a race at 13. And then Mike Helton calls my dad and says, hey, you're all done. And they're like, what do you mean? So Berlin switched to NASCAR Stakes shift the next year. And because I was so young, 12, they're like, hey, we have this kid and you know, we're gonna wait a year. And they're like, no, no, you're great. He's grandfathered in. If he's already raced, you're good. Well then we won. And they're like, no, no, no, that's not how this works. So it was actually probably like the best thing for me that halfway through the year we're leading points that I was just like, well, shoot, like now I get to go travel. So we went traveling, ran jegs for a while and ran okay. And next year we were, we won the Trek championship. Next year we saw Berlin. We went back to Berlin and won the Trek championship at 14. Legal age now. Yeah, 15. I was terrible. We were junk. We were like, it looked like my racing career is over. I mean, we were just terrible. Like, we were, we were. If I had this right, I, it was just, I don't. It was just like, I think our cars weren't great and we were just getting lost and you know, I'm 15, thinking, I know exactly the, the what, what changed was we went to Snowball Derby. We went to the Snowball Derby and it was a reality check. And we ran the Snowflake and we were good and I wrecked and qualified and it was just like self destruct mode. And you know, I, we had figured out that like, I had no idea what kind of feel I wanted for a race car. You know, I'm still new to traveling and I was just like, I'm so used to Berlin of just like, you just adapt and you just learn and, and you know, as they're trying to fix the race car, I'm trying to fix myself driving. And you just, you know, we're just spinning backwards and we have these weird shocks on now and it was just not good. So we kind of got going again after that and got rolling late when I was 15, and the team owner was just like, hey, we're gonna. Or buy some market cars. And I was just like, okay, like, cool. And he's like, well, you're gonna. You're gonna drive them and, you know, you know, bring some money and we're. We're gonna go racing. And by then we're, you know, we looked at Venturini and just like, I got about race, race and a half, you know, because we're kind of looking at Erik Jones. It was funny because Erik Jones was racing when I was running pros. I was. He was racing supers for this team.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And so it's just kind of funny, like, how, like, he was connected. But we're trying to follow the Erik Jones path of how he made it. And, you know, he went to Ventrini, went to Toyota. And I remember looking and, you know, long time ago, and Philip Smalley, who's my agent now, I remember he had. He sent me that Toyota form, like in 2015. I didn't even know it, but I was just like, you know, we don't have any money or for that. And so we ran ARCA cars. You know, I remember we were racing in the shop, and a bunch of guys that had worked, you know, at Berlin used to crew asa, so they'd go over the wall. So we were literally practicing pit stops before our first ARCA race. I ran, like one race that year, and then when I was 16, I ran. We ran a bunch of races, and we were good. We probably should have won one or two, but every time we come down pit road, we come out ninth or something. Like, it was. It was. It was a lot of fun. And, you know, I got to run nine races on probably what it cost me to run two. And you're forgotten. And what moved the. The needle was, for me at least, was. So I ran when I was 16, Jordan Anderson's truck at Eldora, and we ran. I never ran really dirt before. I ran a few times. Yeah. So I. So when I met with. Going back in time, Johnny Benson was going to go late run late models, and I was working with Tim and Brian Clauss and some. They kind of saw me and everything when I was running corner midgets, and they were like, hey, you know, once we have this kind of development program, you know, go from, like, micro fidgets, sprint cars, you know, and go racing, I was just like, well, I want to go NASCAR racing. And they're like, well no, like you got it. You got like if you're going to go this route, like you got to be all in on this. And I was just like, well it'd be a lot easier. Like I don't feel comfortable on dirt, I'm going to go this route. So I went late mile racing and everything. So it was funny that my first race was, you know, just on, on dirt and Wally Rogers was crew chiefing it and we ran third in my heat, running fifth during the race and knocked the radiator out of it. But we were running good and I was just like, well that was cool. You know, like I remember watching every race from Eldora for last, you know, for three months beforehand when I knew I was racing it and Jordan was just like, hey, do you, do you want to run Phoenix? And so we put all the money we could together to run Phoenix and I went to the shop a few weeks early. Working in the shop, you know, not doing anything, just pretending to pretend to work on it. Basically, you know, they're like, hey, move this. And I was like, okay, sure. You know, you know, I'd show up every day and you know, I basically lived down here. My mom would do work and a lot on her laptop. You know, we drive Michigan, North Carolina almost every day and you know, I'd met with every truck team you could and you know, it's a normal deal. You know, you seem like you could be good but you know it's expensive sport, need a lot of money. And what really helped was that it was in the same shop as Nice. And so we went to Phoenix. We qualified like 13th and I didn't cut the trial, otherwise if I cut the dog leg I would have qualified like six.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And you know, we didn't race good at all. But just qualifying we, I think we out qualified the, the nice truck that they were gonna put full time. I think it was my jet Ski. We out qualified him and so we, me and my dad, I mean this is very long story short because I mean there's so many times where, you know, me and my dad and my mom would go at it all the time of just like, you know, we're, you know, I, you know, if we went back, if the race went bad, my dad would go in on Monday and see all the money he spent, realize how hard he's working. You know they own a little coin and jewelry store and they, I mean they work non stop. You know, everybody, you know, for how many times I would land in North Carolina. Everybody just thought I had a jet.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And it was my mom. You know my, my dad's never had a vehicle, a new vehicle since starting racing. He's never had anything. And you know he has a dually. That was our old race hauler truck that the check engine light just turned on and everything. But he you know, would go in. So I mean this is a lot of you know, blow ups and so you know we're sitting there talking and you know we're getting ready to try and put every, every dollar they got, you know, just you know, all but getting close to selling the house type type money to go do this. Jordan Anderson six race deal. Like 17 years old. Like hey, I gotta, I gotta try and get in the door. I just gotta race. And I remember in December my dad calls me and he's just like hey, you know nice Motorsports called. I was like oh that's cool. You know, that's nice one. You know it's the first team to ever call me. Yeah, you know, it's too bad it's too expensive. And he's just like no, like that. They'll figure it out. We'll go racing like with what we got, it's fine. And I was just like why are you still on the phone with me? Like are we going North Carolina? Where are we going?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And so I you know, showed up. It was Cody Efal that called me and the next year Covet hit and we took the same budget, same budget or six races and ran the whole year. The next year, damn. And made the playoffs. Brett Moffat was the full time guy. I had Cody Efaw the GM and Moffitt and them weren't, were Clyde and he was out. And that allowed Phil Gould to, to move to my spot or move to my. Like I got the a program per se. Like I got Phil Gould who's really good and you know right away it was like second, third, fourth and, and made the playoffs, made it to final eight. Next year it was just like hey, you know, we still got to bring some money. So we you know, pulled everything we had, you know, every favor to family members, everything we got. It was like hey, like you know things are getting more expensive now that Covet's kind of done and, and you know this point where I'm now got a taste of running good so now I'm running into more stuff and you know I'm driving harder and it's just like I gotta win. Like I have to win the, the house is legitimately on the line. Like I have to win. I don't. It doesn't matter what I do. Like, I've. I've gotten close a few times. I got to. And yeah, so we, we did that year three. Somehow we convinced them to. They sold a sponsor on me and they hired me to be a race car driver and that's where I went racing. And then that year we won a bunch of races and you know, got to run New York City car some and you know, through Spire. And then all of a sudden now I'm driving it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So. Spire. Spire at some point during the nice deal is, you know, kind of, kind of signs you to their development program, if you will.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, kind of how does our relationship develop?

[Carson Hocevar]

So we, we were working on sponsors on, on my end, right? And with Nissan, a full sponsor, we're just like, well, we have a few sponsors that isn't really family or it kind of is, but like, it's just like, hey, like, you know, if this sponsor goes away, like, I might have to bring money or at least the next step. I gotta, I gotta start building on something. And I was just really big on. Just like, man, like, I felt like I was running good. And then we took a month off and then the playoffs hit and we didn't run good. So I was just like, like, what can I do to make sure we make it to the final four and actually win some races? So I was just like, I gotta find an expanded car somewhere. And Philip Smalley was kind of helping navigate that a little bit and you know, he has a great relationship with Spire and you know, there was talks of doing it with like BJ with like, you know, kind of just like an RCR car wrapped and, and everything. And it was going to be Chevy or something, but then it was just like getting Jeff and TJ to, you know, kind of do this makeshift car for, for you, with you guys and everything and. But like, there was not really. Like, I didn't even like, know Jeff. Like, I didn't even know Jeff. I wasn't signed. I wasn't on their prospects. I mean, maybe was, but I didn't know it. I knew TJ a little bit because he showed up one day at the Blizzard race that was racing at Pensacola that year, and he's just like, hey, man, it's great, Great, you're gonna drive our car. And I was just like, sorry, who are you? He's just like, I'm tj. I was like, oh, okay. Nice to meet you.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

We drove 36 to 5th and. But you know, I'm. Me and Jeff are like father son now. But at the time, I mean I, I never met him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So you have been part of the Spire deal as it's turned into a legitimate contender. I was, I mentioned this on the broadcast a couple times that I don't know that we really appreciate how far this team's come. And I mean it was just a couple years ago they were having to run it like a business and now it's in a situation where you legitimately show up to the racetrack committed to win. They weren't, that wasn't the race team. That Spire was not just, I mean.

[Carson Hocevar]

It wasn't even really was when I signed. Right. Like I had a bunch of people like, I mean this is when we were having blow ups about money. But like, I mean I had people really, really close to me and my family just be like, congrats, career suicide. Good job.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, people in, you know, in my inner circle, you know, really close to me that you know, aren't in that inner circle anymore. But just like they were just like, are you sure about this? Yeah, me like, you're winning truck races and you're going to do this. And I was just like, I don't know, I mean I've always wanted to drive a cup car. And I was like, I didn't get winning stuff in trucks. And I was like, if I really believe in myself, I can make this stuff winning or I can make this stuff better.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And I can like, you know, I've never had, you know, arc car, truck, late boss, whatever. Like it never was like winning before I got there. So I was just like, I've done it before. Like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, like not just be like, oh, I'm gonna make this winning. But I was just like, let's just see where it goes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, right.

[Carson Hocevar]

Like I just gotta get in the door. I gotta get to Sunday and see. See where it goes. And if I was wrong, I was, I was wrong at least on Sunday, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So what's that experience? What's that been like to see this thing develop?

[Carson Hocevar]

It's been, I mean it's been really fun, but it's been crazy. I mean it's all, all the same people on my car.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Car has all the same car.

[Carson Hocevar]

When it was 33rd knowner points the year before Dan, Peter Suspenzo.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

C.J. all them.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I talked to Peter at Mexico and he was like, I was like, man, how has this team changed? And he's like it's not. It's the same people.

[Carson Hocevar]

It's exactly the same. The only people that changed was my spot spotter, Tyler Green, me, my driver and Luke Lambert.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Y' all got better engines and Dickerson gave you the green light to go out there and race.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, pretty much like they, I mean you're. I remember sitting in our company dinner before the year and you know, just a sponsor was just like, so what do you, what do you expect tj? And he goes, we're getting a lot, we're going to hit a lot. We're tear a lot up. But he's like, I think we're going to be fast. We're going to see what happens. And year one we only had one DNF and it was because the tire fell off. And year two, it's been, you know, year one it was, you know, just, you know, we started with just like, hey, me and Luke were just like hey, we've, we've ran. I think that was probably the best thing for us was I got to race with Luke in a cup car. So before my rookie year we had like the only experience we had was cup car, you know, like a cup car. Going into our rookie year together and we had ran fifth, we'd ran good. So it's not like, you know, I feel like rookie years can get really muddy or teams new deals can get muddied when you know, there's the doubt. But like for us it was just like well at spire I ran good my first time with like four day notice. With me and Luke we ran good with like two weeks notice. So it's just like, well all the pieces are like, like I'm good with you and you're good with me and we're good in this shop or I've ran get in the shop before and it's a lot nicer shop and nicer cars. So it's just like if we're not fast, it's not any of us. It's just we just got to get our cars better. So that was where, you know, year one we just made it super building. Just like let's keep our nose clean, not tear anything up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Just go out into the next week, try helper metric and we'll be bearish spot points.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

People would say that you don't have that ability to, to compartmentalize and like say, hey, we're just going to go out there and accomplish this, this minimal goal, not go up here and risk this.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, year one we did that. That's why we weren't really seen a whole lot. Yeah, because we were, we were doing that. We were, you know, our goal was like 25th was to stay on the lap. Okay, we click 2015, you know, and now, you know, this year it's just been like, okay, we're gonna like, we have to run up front and get stage points. Like that's our goal. Like because last year was like okay, we're looking at points. It's like okay, we're 18, but like it's next hundred to the next guy. Well, it's because he's got 100 stage points. We have nothing. So this year we have 100 stage points and we got a lot of bad finishes, you know, some self inflicted, some mechanical, some deals. But yeah, they, I mean it was ever since end of the 500 liter fuel pump issue that we ran 40th all day it was just like, you know, Jeff just kind of looked at me. It's just like you have the green light, you know, let's see what you got.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And you know, I was always the one that super speedways right around the back. Our cars weren't any good. I felt like to, to that I was just going to cause the big one the second I got pushed. And I was just like I want to be up there. And you know they always give me a hard time that I'm scared and everything. And so Atlanta, I was just like kind of you guys, I'm, I'm taking every run. I'm going to go be aggressive and I'm going to race my ass off from one to the end. And at lap 10, my spotter keyed up. We get your point. You can calm down now, like you've proved your point that you can race at these super speedways. But yeah, I mean that's, that's been kind of our, our intensity level I feel like has been the same everywhere. It's just whether like car or me can handle it on the right day. But I think that's, we're trying to operate in that level now because if you're expected to win races like, you know, I don't feel like the moment's gonna be too big because we're already, our intensity's here. You know, I feel like guys get that winning opportunity and now they have to raise their intensity up. Now they're uncomfortable and then that's when they, you know, kind of bust their ass.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. So this year you've had some moments with some other drivers, some conflicts, some disagreements. Stenhouse and you have been, you know, in a little bit of a pillow fight for the past couple of weeks. And I got to ask you, I mean, the, The. The Nashville race aside, Mexico City, like, what is going on? Where you go punting in the.

[Carson Hocevar]

So, So I was. So I would. I saw him in front of me and he was kind of like pushing up and so I was trying to help.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Do you remember hitting him earlier in the race and nearly spinning him out?

[Carson Hocevar]

So hold on. So hold on. This is where this just cut all this part. Because now this could be excuses the whole time, but. So this is what I so remember when Riley, like hooked around and the 47 was really close and then like, he like putted right and then I almost hit him. Yeah, I thought he was. I thought his car was dead. Like, I thought he hit the 35. So he was putting over and so he turned left. I was like, oh. And so I locked up the brakes. Well, you know, we ran a bunch of laps and I'm just trying to get comfortable. And the straightaways are so long that, you know, our cars are kind of slow with the horsepower, with the elevation, everything. And I noticed he was catching the guys in front. I was like, oh, I'm gonna earn some back here. I'm gonna push him down straightaway. So I was kind of staying close and everything, and I'm just the biggest brain fade ever. I just got in the corner and I was just like, oh, there's a corner here. And so I went to the brakes. I locked up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Did you just get distracted or.

[Carson Hocevar]

I just got. I just kinda got zoned out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Zoned out.

[Carson Hocevar]

I was just like, you know, just. Just banging gears, just like, oh, now it's like five to go. And I'm just like, caution's not going to come out. Just. Yep, yep, yep. You know, message is normal. Oh, And. And for a minute my guys thought I like, passed out because my car just goes straight. And I am legitimately in there holding the wheel straight either. Getting ready to turn right to go to the garage right there. Not actually, but I was just, literally just sitting there and I'm watching him and I don't even turn the wheel. I don't like, I just literally just like stop. And I'm just literally watching him spin and I'm just like, please, for the love of God, save this thing. Please, for the love of God, save this thing. Just, just, just like, even if you lose a spot, just save it. And I just watch him spin around. I'm just like, okay. Do I just. Do I just wait for him to go? We're not. Do I just get wrecked now? Do I, like. I'm like, what Do I. So I just stay. I. My car just stayed there for a while, and they thought I legitimately, like, had, like, a medical emergency of just, like, I passed out from the heat and whatever, but I was just like, no, I was just sitting there watching, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Do you think you're an aggressive driver?

[Carson Hocevar]

I mean. Yeah, I don't know if I think. I just. I know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Are you?

[Carson Hocevar]

I am.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You are, yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

100.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So this isn't so. I mean, that. Not that you're gonna run over Stenhouse every. You know, every couple of weeks, but, like, you would say that that's racing aggressively and physical contact is part of your repertoires in your tool belt.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, yeah, it's there. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So when somebody says to you, whether it's a broadcaster or another race car driver, man, he's got a lot. He's got to clean it up or he's got to do this or he's got to do that. Are you. Is your thought process. No, man, that's who I am, and that's what I'm. That's how I'm a race now. Now, I hear you saying, I made a mistake that moment at Mexico, but let's go to Nashville, turn three. Are you saying, no, man? I mean, I think that's kind of how I'm going to do things sometimes.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. I mean, I think. I mean, I think there's just multiple ways to skint that. The cat on it of just, like, how I thought, like, there's a car directly in front of him. He's probably. I show my nose real early, he's probably going to want clean air. He's going to run the middle, and he did. And I'm going to take that hole.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And. Or I'm going to at least make him go. Go higher. And he didn't. And I was just like, no, you're not coming down here. I got you. And then, you know, just like, oh, I'm going to. I'm going to, you know, kind of just like, force this to happen. You know, that's just kind of the instinct of just for my. I guess that's more who I am. It's just like, when you start doing something, I'm just gonna just take that last second of just like, no, hold on. Yeah, like, hold on. Like, I'm coming in. I'm on my way. Yeah, I'm gonna Get there. You know, your spire's gonna call inside here about points, 2 seconds. And. And sometimes that, you know, leads to, you know, people trying to cut over or whatever. And, you know, there's plenty of instances where I'm just like, ah, that's too. Too much or not. But I felt like that one was kind of racing of. I think he thought I was going to cut him a break. And I was just like, well, sure, why couldn't I get one too? You know, like, why can't I just. Why can't we just race side by side in that corner?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So when you. If I go back to Phoenix in the truck where you just went berserk, that is. Let me ask now that I. Well, I didn't know that. Now that I know the front end of the story of, you know, the family risking all of the, you know, the finances was that night more of you. More about you going, I gotta do this to. Because I gotta make it. This is the only way I'm gonna make it. I don't win this championship or I don't do. If I don't succeed tonight, I'm not sure I get to do this.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, it was kind of that, but it wasn't like, I'm gonna make it. It was me of just going, this might be my only and last time to win a championship.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Right.

[Carson Hocevar]

I don't know if I'm gonna win a Cup championship. I don't get a shot in Xfinity. You know, like, this is, you know, this is it. I just signed with Spire. You know, like, at that time, I was just like, I. We win a championship or, you know, anytime soon.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sure.

[Carson Hocevar]

So it's just like, yeah. Like I. I gotta go get this thing. And, you know, I wasn't trying to, you know, ideally wreck him. Yeah. But my plan was to hit him in every corner.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Like, I hit him three times because I was just like, I just gotta stay. I can't let him get too. Carl. Two cars in between. I gotta, like, if there's a restart, I gotta be. I gotta be. He's gotta be next to me. I was like, the only goal I have is to keep him as slow as possible.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And just make sure he could not keep. So I. I remember getting into him twice and everything. And, you know, I was just trying to get there. And what. What cost me was him actually passing a truck. I thought he wasn't passing a truck and. Or that he was actually gonna make the corner. I thought he was trying to get away from Me. And he was gonna slide, and we're gonna slide, and I just backed him right in the fence. And. Yeah, that. That whole night. I mean, I. I mean, I remember, like, anytime I see the video, I'm just embarrassed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I mean, we all have those. There's plenty.

[Carson Hocevar]

But, like, I legitimately.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

It won't be the last one. I mean, everybody has. I've had. I've had. There's a wreck where. And we've talked about it a lot on here, and I even hate to bring it up, but I wreck Vickers on the back straightaway at Daytona. And I mean, I am embarrassed when I see it, because the whole field gets taken out.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I'm still mad that Vickers blocked me. As mad right now as it happened in that moment. But the rest of the chaos and calamity that followed is something that you, you know, you can't do much about.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, I. So many. I think I never. I never really get into the whole Twitter thing or what people say and whatever. But you don't. No, no, I. I care more. More like what my family thinks of me, what my sponsors.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Sure.

[Carson Hocevar]

And team. But, like, the rest is just kind of noise. Like, you know, good, bad, and different. You know, I just hope they're talking and making noise. I just know that's part of the. Part of the gig. It's a good way to look at it. And. But the. The only thing that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, that I was just like. Like, I was just, like, ready to, like, you know, get on there and start tweeting, was people thought I was faking, you know, Like, I saw the in car cameras. Like, I'm gonna put on act here. You know, when I was banging and I completely. If I knew that in car camera was there, I would turn it around or I would have thrown it out.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Like, I complete. Like, I was legitimately because, you know, I just came from, you know, just being the guy who just ran into. It was just big ass, dumb ass that was wearing hats. But the hats thing got me sponsors and noticed. And then when I started running good, I was like, all right, I could drop this. Sorry, I dropped this. Like, I don't know how it happened, but that's how it happened. And. But, like, I was. They put me on tv. I was like, I have to. I have to be on tv. Like, I gotta sell. I don't know how to sell me, but this is working. Yeah, but, you know, I just signed a cup. Like, everything was going good, and I was just like, all Right. Well, like. Like, I kind of had that pep talk. Just like, this is my last shot to probably win anything. NASCAR championship. I want to win something. And I was like, last thing I want to do is hurt myself going forward. And, like, I'll do whatever it takes to win this championship. But, you know, I also don't want to, like, you know, ruin everything that, like, I had just, you know, kind of re birthed, like, myself and my image a little bit. And, like, all I remember is just like, oh, like, this guy's tweeting, and this guy's like, like, honestly, I was just like, dale's gonna not, you know, like, yeah, you know, I just. I remember that convo, you know, first time I really, like, met you in person, and I was just like. I was like. I was just like, man, like, he's like, all these people that, like, I look up to, like, like, believed I. I turned the corner here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And now I'm just like, now I'm like, now I just made him look stupid.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

One. Yeah. One step forward, two steps back.

[Carson Hocevar]

And I'm just like. And. And one of my biggest regrets is just like, you know, I needed in the moment was just like. But now I look back at it, I was like, yeah, it was really stupid and everything, but, like, I think what's. What's, you know, what's the worst of it or the crime of it even more is just like, I gave up. Just quit. I was. I was so out of it and so mentally out of it. I gave up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That night.

[Carson Hocevar]

That night.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

We were supposed to pit, and I completely missed pit. Right?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Now we were leading points. We're gonna win championship still, you know, you just wrecked the guy that had only shot to beat you. And I gave up. I completely quit. Like, I was just mentally was out of it. I just, like, if I could have just got out of the truck right there and just said, I've up you and. And al niece. It took me. It took him eight months to come over and get over it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And, you know, it was just. And then I had to go race the cup car. Yeah. So I had to go walk back into the cup garage. And I've never been. Just more. I was so embarrassed.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, yeah. Next day, you don't think about, you know, when you're in that car and in that moment, driving down into that turn, you don't think about how many people are paying attention, you know, and then you don't think about, you know, what, What. What are not so much the Repercussions. But you got to face the music. Right? You got to get out. And there'll be a camera, there'll be a microphone, There'll be questions, there'll be media. They'll. They're gonna. They went. They might not find you that night, but they'll find you next week. And. And then even on top of that, when you go back next year, you might not even be in that freaking race, but they're gonna be playing those replays.

[Carson Hocevar]

They do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Guess what?

[Carson Hocevar]

They still do.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Guess what? This might happen. And you're like, I hate being. And you know, and I think sometimes, too, that deters a driver like you. And even me, it did me. Like when I got in a mix up with another guy and then they kept playing it on the media all week. I'm like, I'm never doing that again because this sucks.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Even though I need to be aggressive, even though I need to be that selfish. Like, the best race car drivers are the ones that are selfish. That's why Joey Logano, great guy out of the car, is good on the racetrack because when he races, he's a jerk.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, he really is. And. But, you know, if he's driving my car, I'd love it, but I couldn't do it because I didn't love what came with it.

[Carson Hocevar]

You want to, you know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, and Joey doesn't give a. Joey's like, I don't care. I'm win races and championships and if you think I'm. I don't care. And so, you know, there's a tough balance to do, to go through what you went through and know what to change and what not to change, what to fix, what to polish but not what to take out. Right. And, you know, I think. I think about Chastain. So Ross, I don't know if you draw any parallels, but Ross comes in. Ross has done some similar things in terms of busting his ass driving.

[Carson Hocevar]

I studied Ross for JD Because I was, you know, we were at Nice. And my first time at Martinsville, I got on the front row, spun me out first. First corner.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Just backed me right in the fence, got back up to fifth, spun me out again. And I left that racetrack saying, I will never, I will never. I'm not going to be the, like, guy that just gets beat around.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Especially when I have Ross in the shop that I'm just like, he annihilates everybody and they never give it back to him.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Like, they don't do anything.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. He did it this weekend. So Ross busted his ass. Right. He had no. No real, true financial backing similar to you. He drives for JD Motorsports, literally driving anything he can drive. He drove Spire Cars.

[Carson Hocevar]

Cars Premium.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yes.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And I mean, I remember Junior or Dirty Mo media sponsored him at Darlington. We gave them $12,000 and they got to put new tires on a couple times. And they rode around in 30th and 33rd all night. And Mike and all of our team listened on the radio and we're like, holy. We got like a whole new appreciation for like what that team's having to do.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. For how hard they're right. Like the grind they don't get.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They're not choosing to do that. It's the only avenue they have. And so, you know, Ross comes up through and he's a bulldog, you know, he's a killer. And so, you know, you. You push him around, he's coming back. And. And we experienced that race in Newman Xfinity series when he's driving to JD because he would run 10th to 15th with that red car and we'd be back there sometimes and he'd beat the out of us.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And he's like that in the cup series, but in the time that he's been in the cup series, he's found some things that he needed to take out, but he's found some things he needed to leave in. Right. And so we still get what we got this weekend, which we love. Now, I know Joey's not happy and neither is Stenhouse, but as a broadcaster and as a. Is a fan of nascar, I kind of like that there's a guy out there that's like, oh, yeah, you.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, I like that. I need a guy.

[Carson Hocevar]

You gotta have to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You gotta have a couple guys like that. And I mean, the more the better. And so, I mean, there's a. Do you look at. I guess you just. You just answered it. You kind of look at Ross a little bit and understand like, yeah, of course I want to polish and get better and be a more all around racer and get, you know, racecraft, start the race, qualify well, race well, finish well, but I don't want to lose who's. What's genuinely me.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

And there are some things that are genuinely you that are going to be abrasive, that are going to rub people the wrong way or not always be the thing that everybody loves. Right. And hell, Dale Earnhardt dealt with that. You know, all the greats had days where they left a track and everybody was like that guy.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You know, and so, you know, do you. I guess. I guess my question is, is I've seen some of your social media comments or personal comments to the media. When you go through the Stenhouse deal more recently, you're. You've basically taken the stance of this is what you get.

[Carson Hocevar]

Mm. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I'm 22 now. Right. I've raced for a long time yet, like, I think the biggest thing for me is, like, I realized that, like, there's certain things you just can't change. Like, you're instinctly. You know, when I race, I don't. I don't half the time know what I'm doing. It's just autopilot.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, when I'm, you know, when I ran Chicago last week, we were qualified and we qualified third, but we actually should have qualified like a tenth off svg. I. I actually the only corner I remember and like, thought of, just like, I had a thought of how I'm gonna approach this corner. I. I lost four and a half, ten. I completely.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

So, like, you know, a lot of times I go into the debrief after qualifying and you know, when we. We qualify. Good. I'm just like, I don't know. Or just like, I. I think it was good.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

I remember what I did, you know, or I. Or I'm just like that I. I suck. Like, I'm the worst race car driver of all time. I completely that up and they're like P2. Good job. I'm just like, oh. Because like, the only thing that, like, that clicks me out of that is just like when I, you know, or just like when I'm. Ah, that's not very good. You know, I've never just like click out of that, like, autopilot flow state of just like, oh, that was badass. Yeah. If I do, I'm just like, I gotta go back in. Like, I go back. But, you know, when, you know, I think that's why for me, you know, it takes. It's taking me a long time to, you know, kind of adapt that. Because I'm trying to like, change what I'm doing when I'm not thinking about it, you know, I'm not. It's not aware. Like, we, you know, we have code words of just like when they think I'm like, gonna get ready to see red.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, they tell me we have codewords for everything now.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

I'm just like, even.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Just to just. Yeah. Even for your emotional state.

[Carson Hocevar]

Mm. Yeah. It's just. Literally just that, like, you know, we. You know, I had a moment. I had a stint where I was just, like, being unproductive on the radio. And so they. You know, the code word was bubble goggles, because they were making me wear these bubble goggles and look like a. On the way home if I. If I was any more productive or just, like, was mouthing off to.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

And after a few weeks, I kind of fixed it because they were just like. I'm just like, okay, yeah, you got it, man. Perfect. And, you know, anytime you hear Superman, that's when I'm getting ready to tee somebody up or just go drive bonsai this thing. Four wide or six wide? Because I just got. You know, I'm just, you know, just got used up or something happened. So Tyler Green will just be like, superman. Relax, Superman. All good here, man. And, yeah, so we have. We have a bunch of code words there that just. Just kind of triggers for that. Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When you're racing at Charlotte at 600 and having such a good night or you go to Nashville and you run second, do you feel like you're overachieving or are you feeling like that's what your team's supposed to do? All right, because. So how do you know? I think the. The me watching Spire go run second at Nashville, legit. And then run as well as you did in the 600 as well. I mean, that. That was amazing. I'm like, they're overachieving. You're talented. I know you can drive a race car. But this team is doing. I've never seen them do before. But inside the building, what's the attitude?

[Carson Hocevar]

I mean, ultimately, like, I feel like for our group, it's. For them, I think it's like, they're like, holy. But for me, I'm just like, that. I mean, I'm the arrogant race car driver. That's just like a right. You know, that's right. You know, like, this is what I'm supposed to do. You know, I'm. You know, Nashville. I'm running second, and I'm just like, I should have won. You know, like, I would. I don't know what I could have done. I don't think there's anything I could have done. Like, you know, I rewatched that race 17,000 times. I don't know. There's not a single thing I. I gained a bunch of time on pit road that it actually jumped us six to second, and that's how we finished second.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yep.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, I won pit entry I won pit exit and I run rolling time and my crew won. Like, I mean, we. We maximized everything compared to everybody we were around. But Jeff started to have to get on me. Like, he. He walked down and he's just like, hey, man, can you take a look at that car? You know, think how many times he's won a championship or he's won. He's won a championship before, but just like, he races for, like, Roger Penske. You ever heard of him? Guy behind you here, Denny Hamlin, he's one, you know, ton races race for Joe Gibson. You ever heard of him? This is who you race for. You know, my dumb ass. You know, is just how he puts it. It's just like, you know, for him, like, that's. That's how he just, like, clicks me out of. Just like, I know you want to be, like, the best, but he's just like, he's. He's just said verbatim. It's just like, dude, there's gonna be a time where this ain't fun, where I'm gonna have to expect you to win races. I'm gonna expect you to win championships or expect you to do this. He goes right now, he's like, we have more 30th place finishes than anything. He's just like, just have fun. Enjoy it. Like, get out and smile. And I'm just like you, Jeff. Like, I want to win, but that's our relationship. It's just like, is, you know, he is there, you know, when I qualify, whatever. He's just like, unacceptable. Can't believe you qualified fourth. Yeah. Gonna rip that contract up right there. Like, he just has that smart ass way to just be like, dude, you are doing, like, weird. We are doing things that, like, I don't even think he would have ever.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

He was a ton. I got to work with him on the radio once as a spotter, and he was a ton of fun. Kept the whole race, kept the whole team in a great attitude.

[Carson Hocevar]

That's how the. That's how the shop is. You know, they're all. They're all there because of him. Really. Like, they're all still there. They hire new people because of him. Like, just everything. You know, they. You know, I've only raced for him on the cup side, but, you know, just everybody that walks in, you know, they're his. You know, his, His. Their. He is their favorite owner that they've ever raced for. So for him, and I think my group, I think they're all thinking they're overachieving and for me, you know, I, I don't look at it like, oh, I'm just, you know, I don't look at it either. Like, I ran second today because I've just put this thing on my back and Fred Flintstone, this thing put my shoe through the foreboard. Like, I'm just like, you know, I did, I did my job to get this race car good from start of 24 to now. And this is what we're doing. Yeah, that's kind of how I look at it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey, everybody, you want the latest Dale Jr. Download apparel? Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com we're always adding new stuff all the time. Especially like when we say something silly on this show. We'll put it on a T shirt again. Check it out at shop.dirtymomedia.com let's talk about underwear for a second. We all know summer is amazing. Sunshine, road trips, beach days. But it also means one thing, and that is sweat. And if you're not wearing the right underwear, that can get real uncomfortable real fast. Luckily, there's meundies. Travis, I'm wearing me undies right now.

[TJ Majors]

I am too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Oh, really?

[TJ Majors]

It's the. I tell you what, it's awesome. It's awesome. And it really is important. The summertime, man, you're out, you're moving around, you're sweating. The last thing you want to be doing is having the wrong kind of underwear on because you're going to notice and it's going to be a problem.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I got me a pair of pineapple pattern me undies. And then I also, I'm wearing the s' mores pattern right now. So it's very summer esque.

[TJ Majors]

S' mores in the summer.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

S' mores in the summer. It's like the best time to do it.

[TJ Majors]

I guess you could do a campfire.

[Carson Hocevar]

And you know what?

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You could do too, because my girlfriend loves these meundies. We're getting matching pairs. All right. We're going to stock that drawer full of me undies.

[TJ Majors]

That's the way to go. I mean, that's the thing, is it's not just for men. They've got boxer briefs, they've got cheeky cuts, they've got bralettes. Whatever you need, man or woman, they've got you covered.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

They do. They really do. I mean, it is super soft fabric, breathable, somehow stays cool even when it's 90 degrees and your AC is losing the battle. So you're on. Underwear drawer deserves a vacation.

[TJ Majors]

Right now. As a listener of the Dale Junior download. You can score sizzling summer deals like up to 50% [e-mail] dalejr and enter promo code dalejr.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

That's meundies.com dalejR promo code dalejr for up to 50% off MeUndies comfort that's made for summer. Travis, you and me, we work in racing. Everything needs to be quick. We need that social video quick. We need to get the podcast out quick. Well, guess what? The same thing is important when hiring quality candidates.

[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah, that's right, Travis. You realize you needed to hire somebody not today, but yesterday. And how can you find amazing candidates.

[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You live down here majority of the year. Nine, nine months say out of the year. You go back home?

[Carson Hocevar]

I go back home as much as I, I can in the winter. You know, every like, like Chicago, like there's a, there's a good opportunity. I can spend a day at home after. So I spent the day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When did you move down here?

[Carson Hocevar]

So I moved down here when I was 18.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Okay. How you've been down here? Four years?

[Carson Hocevar]

I've been out here four years and same place I lived. Well, I lived in a hotel for six months.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Lived in a hotel, lived in a hotel.

[Carson Hocevar]

It was nice because it's first time moving away from mom.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

By yourself?

[Carson Hocevar]

By myself.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

In a hotel. By yourself?

[Carson Hocevar]

Hotel room. By myself.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where?

[Carson Hocevar]

In Mooresville. In Mooresville. Exit 33. Yeah, the home. Two suites. Just lived right there. Okay. Six months and, you know, had a car that was getting ready to blow up. It was mom's Denali, just rolling around Mooresville, N.C. and my apartment was going to be done for six months. That's where I lived and I was going to be there at the shop every day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Your apartment?

[Carson Hocevar]

I had an apartment that I moved in. Hawthorne, Waterstone.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're there now?

[Carson Hocevar]

I was. I have a house.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You got a house now?

[Carson Hocevar]

I rent a house.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're renting?

[Carson Hocevar]

Rent a house.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why are you renting?

[Carson Hocevar]

Because I bought a piece of property and I'm going to build. If I was going to own something, I wanted to build it. What.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Where. Where roughly is the property?

[Carson Hocevar]

Troutman is where my land is around.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Your land is by Troutman.

[Carson Hocevar]

I'm clearing it. I'm going to build a barndominium. I want to build like, you know, like 8,000 square foot shop and townhouse on it and just, you know, move all my buddies in if I can.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Kyle Busch. You got that one for sale out by my. By my place.

[Carson Hocevar]

I. That one is too expensive and I.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Think sound like you're going to build the same thing.

[Carson Hocevar]

Well, I think if he found out I was building, buying it, the price would get a lot more too.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So he's trying to unload it.

[Carson Hocevar]

So, I mean, it is. It is way too expensive for me. If I was here like five, like, maybe I can get away with it, but I would love to buy that one. But I'm just like, nah, it just be. It'll just be so much more meaningful if I build it. My.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who do you hang out with?

[Carson Hocevar]

Just a bunch of my Iris buddies.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Not anyone in the industry. Not no other racers. You have no other racer buddies?

[Carson Hocevar]

Nope. None.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There's not one guy that races truck, Xfinity or Cup that you would call a friend? Not.

[Carson Hocevar]

I've only hung out one time with any other driver. It was SVG and Bubba at his property one time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

SVG and who?

[Carson Hocevar]

Bubba Wallace, one time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So they're. But you don't.

[Carson Hocevar]

We don't. We don't like, hang out like. It was just one time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Who do you see at the racetrack that says hi to you the most?

[Carson Hocevar]

I don't know.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

No drivers?

[Carson Hocevar]

No.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When you go up on the platform and ride around on the.

[Carson Hocevar]

It. It. Whoever I didn't run into last week, like this week, it was. I got on the podium and it was Bowman Made a joke about how he. I was getting on the slow boat because they. They were all torn up and they're starting in the back and I was qualifying third and slow boat. I just. I went to the float that had the least amount of drivers on it, and I was just like, all right. Hi.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why did you go to the float that had the least amount of.

[Carson Hocevar]

Last one. I was last one there. But I just. I just know that I don't really talk to anybody.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Why do you want to be friends with drivers or is it intentional?

[Carson Hocevar]

I mean, it's not like intentional or unintentional. It's just how it worked out, you know, Like, I don't. I don't go out. I don't drink.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. When you were racing short tracks, did you have friends that you raced with? No.

[Carson Hocevar]

No, not really. I mean, like, I had.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You're incapable. You're incapable of making, I guess, friends with people you race against.

[Carson Hocevar]

I just have. I just want to hang out with my crew guys.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

When you raced in the truck series, did you have any kind of like, not. Look, I'm not saying you got to go play golf with people. I'm just saying did you have somebody that, like, when you were on a driver's intro stage, you more than likely went over and talked to them?

[Carson Hocevar]

Maybe Zane and trucks. Zane maybe. But he was going to spire.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

So, like, that was. But that was like year.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There you go.

[Carson Hocevar]

But like, that was like.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

But now you see Zane and nothing.

[Carson Hocevar]

I don't. I don't. I've never. I've never hung out with a driver my whole time here.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

I've never, like, hung out and just like, other than that one time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know, like, I don't go to the intro stage and go, what's up, man? How's the kid? Like, I. Every now and again, like, all.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Just Noah, he. They have their little group and they play video games like Connor Zillich and Jesse Love and all of that.

[Carson Hocevar]

I have. I have my buddies that I play video games with. On iracing.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

I remember when I saw you the first time on iracing.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. And I remember. I remember like somebody.

[Carson Hocevar]

I remember it well.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So I'm curious where we were doing.

[Carson Hocevar]

We were running Atlanta in like it was maybe the ARC car, the Gen 4. And it was right around when you had to put steering ratio all the way up.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

At old Atlanta. And I remember you, like, you somehow, like, somehow we. You had. You PM me and just like, hey, like. Like, how do I be fast at this and so you, we got in discord for a second. You're just, I was just like, hey, you just turned the steering ratio up and so you did and you ran the next race and you ran good. So yeah, I just all we don't.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You, we. We don't turn the steering ratio up anymore. Does that not help you? I think the right front.

[Carson Hocevar]

I think it does but it wasn't as like it was a big deal. It was a big deal. But yeah, just a bunch of my buddies like some, like all my buddies kind of come, you know, like Rockingham and all them. That's who I hang out with. Like it's like Jordan Worth, Kevin McAdams, Sean Butler, Tyler, you know, Lucas Plusel. Like we all run. I know those 80 sevens. Oh yeah. So they, they basically I, I told them my house is open anytime they want to come so they're always rolling around.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Nice.

[Carson Hocevar]

So yeah, I, that's why I hang out with almost every day.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So that's cool because when I, when I look around in this building, there are multiple people that I met initially through sim racing still in my life today. Like I will say I'll give you a hard time for not being friends with any of the other drivers, but the sim racing community really had a massive impact, positive impact on my life and like a lot of my good, good friends are from that original, that community that I've known for now 20, 25 years. So those friends that you just mentioned will be your buddies for life.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah, I just, I, I think it's good for, I mean a lot of my crew guys think it's great. Like they think that's why we run good and we're as aggressive as we are just cuz like I'm not in the chat trouble. Yeah, they will motorhome life.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Well yeah and if you weren't sim racing, you know, you'd might be at the, you know, you might be. Yeah big owls or something.

[Carson Hocevar]

You know I don't, I don't hanging out, I don't drink. I don't, I don't, I don't like what it turns people into and I'm just like if I, if I have to rely on that to have a good time, I don't, I don't really need to be there. So. Yeah, you know, I mean I, I will drink but like it like it's not like I will just never take a sip but I just, you know, I just don't find that as, I don't find that as a good time.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

You'Re young, you got plenty of time. I hear you get in all that. All right, man. I've had fun talking to you.

[Carson Hocevar]

No, I appreciate it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah.

[Carson Hocevar]

Fun.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. This is, you know, we've, we've known each other for a while and I've always enjoyed, I've always enjoyed being around you because of your, you know, you're, you're kind of unapologetic, but at the same time, you're, you know, you're trying to figure it out. You know, you're trying to work through the maze of becoming a, you know, the total package and the driver that you want to be, you know, and I appreciate the, I appreciate the honesty and transparency and allowed us to even talk to you about it, man. I mean, sometimes these guys, they get into these, you know, these incidents and mistakes and they don't want to, they don't want to have any self discovery or, you know, analyze themselves very much. But appreciate you coming on the show and open it up to us a little bit. The, you know, the future of the sport will be, you know, the future of our sport will be in your hands. You and Connor Zillich and all these guys that are coming up through. And it's gonna be fun watching all that. I appreciate it develop over the next 10, 20 years.

[Carson Hocevar]

It's been fun so far and yeah, that's the biggest thing. It's just like, I mean, we deal with it with sponsors and everything too, is just like I, I told them from the start, is like, you know, it's sustainable for me to be. You get, you get what you get here, you know, like, well, you want me to switch? You're going to. We're just gonna waste each other's times because you're gonna figure out really quickly. I'm, I can't. I don't have a good poker face. I can't play the part.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Well, I think it's gonna be fun watching you continue through the series over the next several years. And you're, you know, not only you, but Spire and what Spire has become and could become in the future. And I think you play a massive role in that. I know I don't want to shortchange McDowell because he's a talented driver and he brings a ton to the table. But for Spire to continue to, like, elevate their game, they got to have drivers like you and McDowell and, and so it's, I think that they're, you know, I like, you know, again, I like McDowell and I think he brings a lot to the table. But I think your. Your upside as a, as a prospect is exciting for Spire and drives that whole building right to like, hey, let's keep making these cars better because damn, you know, this kid could really take us to the promised land.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. So I never thought I would be, you know, I see all the rumors of, you know, I gotta go here, go here to a bigger team and whatever. But yeah, like for me, I'm just like, you know, I have a team that they kind of just threw me the keys, you know, halfway through year one, you know, per se. And, and you know, they, they want to build this whole company and shop and you know, all these people and everything. Jeff Dickerson, his life is risked from going on, you know, sleeping on couches to now doing what he did like and still risking it. All right. Of, you know, who he puts in his building. For him to want to build that around me is, you know, there's so much value in that for me from confidence side. But also too just being able to make our cars go fast and dictate the directions it goes.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Yeah. Just a couple of years ago I was talking to Corey Lajoie and we.

[Carson Hocevar]

Were.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Talking about his career and I was like, man, Spire is going to be that race team where it's hard today, you know, having to manage your expectations and say, man, 25th is a great day for us. Yeah, it's hard to do that. But you, I told him, I said, if you keep on digging and stick this out, you're gonna find yourself instead of looking over there and going, man, I'd love to be driving that car. You're going to be in that car still with Spire. And it's amazing to see that actually playing out where people look across the garage and some at your car and go down, I think. But that thing, that thing driving pretty good, you know.

[Carson Hocevar]

Yeah. I mean, I mean our relationship, obviously, you know, Jeff is like, you know, Mr. H's, you know, step kid. Right. You know how close they are. You know, it, you know, it's, you know, for Hendrick engine shop and everything helping us out. But like, you know, it's just crazy. Like, you know, there was a while up there that, you know, Michigan, it was just like we were, we were leading. The 24 was second, the 5 was third. And you know, 48 crash. But the next one, the 9 was running good. Like it was just kind of just like us four up there. And I was just like, man, it's pretty special, right? Like, Mr. H came over to my car And Jeff and him are laughing and. Yeah, you know, we're sitting there talking and, and for me it's just like, you know, it's just super cool. Like, like there's never been. Just like a man. I wish I was in this car. I wish, you know, I wish I could jumpstart this. It's, you know, for me it's just always been spent. Like, I just can't wait for everybody to want, to want, you know. You know, even the Hendrick guys sometimes are just like, how is that thing passing us? Like, yeah, we're the top dog feeling of the group and. Yeah, hauling ass, you know, and, and they're all nice about it, obviously, everything. You know, they've been super complimentary, you know, all the way top down, you know, checking house and, you know, all the crew chiefs and everything. But like, for me, I'm just like that. That's, that's very fulfilling.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Absolutely. Yeah, I could definitely see that. I think that that'll continue. And that's the trick is to. You can bounce off of anybody's cars, but don't bounce off of Rick's. That was, that was Ross's mistake.

[Carson Hocevar]

That was, that was Jeff. Jeff was very.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Probably already told you that.

[Carson Hocevar]

Has told me that multiple times. He's just like, hey, I don't care what you do. Yeah, you're not touching one of these cars.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

There you go.

[Carson Hocevar]

But I was like, hold on. He's just like, hold on. They're not going to touch you either. I was just like. I was like, all right. Yeah. I was like, jeff, I'll never make you make that phone call. So, you know, we take care of.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Each other pretty good, I bet. All right, man. Thank you, Carson.

[Carson Hocevar]

I appreciate it.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Carson Hosvar on the Dale Jr. Download.

[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

So that's a great conversation with Carson Hosavar, one of the drivers in the cup series today and polarizing figures been, you know, been polarizing, I think, since he got into the truck series and appreciate him coming on and talking to us and being willing to really, you know, reflect a little bit on some of the not so finer moments. And, you know, it's a, it's, it's, it'll be interesting, I guess, to see just kind of how he evolves as a driver. And we made mention of, you know, Ross Chastain and I see some parallels there in terms of Ross is an aggressive guy and, and we like that about Ross and it's still in there. Right? But Ross has found ways to like, hey, you know, not. He's found ways to not make things more difficult for him when it's not necessary. And, and so, you know, I think, I think Josevar will do the same thing over the course of, of time. Maybe it might take him longer because he's much younger than Ross Chastain was when Ross got his opportunity to finally get into a great cup ride. And so, you know, I think Jose Var's got more mistakes to make and I think he would probably agree and I think there'll be more days where we go, damn, dude, what the hell? And that's okay. And you know, this, the, the process will, will sort itself out and he will hopefully, you know, clean up the things that need to be cleaned up and leave the good parts that, or the more compelling, you know, parts that, that do make him polarizing at times. Because I think it's great, you know, for a broadcaster or a fan of the sport, which is my perspective today. I think it's great to have people that are in the field that are going to push those buttons. And, you know, I look at the drivers in the field of drivers in the Cup Series today as a cast, you know, for any kind of a movie or any kind of a show or whatever it may be, that cast has to be correct. And you need all types of personalities. And so he's one of those guys that's going to fill in that bucket of the, you know, kind of the, the wild card, the one that may be unpredictable, the guy you got to be careful around. We need those guys in the field and he can still be that guy and be fast, win races, win championships. And so we'll see how all that plays out. But he's part of the future. It's a lot of incredible, you know, names on that list of talented drivers that are coming up through the truck series, the Xfinity series, now in the Cup Series that are going to be part of this sport for the next couple of decades. And so, yeah, be fun to see all that play out. Thanks for, thank him for coming through and telling us a little bit about his upbringing and kind of who he is at the core and what his path here was all about. And let's get to the white flag.

[Carson Hocevar]

White legs.

[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

All right, so the teardown was available on Twitter and YouTube live after the race on Sunday. And appreciate Jeff Gluck and Jordan for giving us all that great insight post Chicago. And then Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin came out as well. Denny came home and gave us his take on the Bowman Bubba incident and everything else that he experienced throughout the weekend at Chicago. TJ and I released our Tuesday show, Dirty Air. Door Bumper Clear is available as well. They had Eric Jones as their guest this week and Herm and Schrader, Speed street, all the usual great content tomorrow. Bless your heart with my wife. And then finally, last but not least, the final episode of the six episode series Becoming Earnhardt comes out Sunday. The look at the 1980 championship season. You can go back and listen to the first season 1979 and now this new six episode 1980 season. The team's been hard at work and it's beautiful stuff man. I'm really proud of it. So appreciate everybody listening this week and we'll see you tomorrow for bless your heart right here in the Dirty Mo Media Studio. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Instagram, Facebook X and Tick Tock. Amazon presents Lisa vs the Mosquito Surviving 100 million years mosquitoes shook off the.

[Carson Hocevar]

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[TJ Majors]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

Hey mosquito. Lisa just bodied.

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[Carson Hocevar]

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[Dale Earnhardt Jr.]

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[Carson Hocevar]

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