What NASCAR fans continue to get wrong about Carson Hocevar

As Carson Hocevar continues to make enemies pretty much whenever the NASCAR Cup Series races, there is one question that fans continue to ask: when will there finally be payback?

The answer might well be never, given how often drivers have grown frustrated with Hocevar's reckless driving style and ultimately done absolutely nothing about it. And, of course, the fact that NASCAR turns a blind eye to instigators but has historically thrown the book at those who respond as if they've committed a felony.

Whether Brad Keselowski adds his name to that list remains to be seen, although his case from Darlington Raceway on Sunday is an interesting one since he has not previously had any run-ins with Hocevar, so we can't accurately say that he is one who has failed to put his money where his mouth is. Either that has to change, or the trend does.

The thing about it, however, is that even if payback comes, Hocevar is going to love every second of it. It's exactly what he wants, and as far as "teaching him a lesson", good luck.

Carson Hocevar truly doesn't care, and there is no lesson to be learned

We talk on and on about how he's ruining his championship chances by making more enemies, especially on Sunday after he spun a non-playoff driver in Keselowski. We talk on and on about how once somebody finally stands up to him, he'll at least consider a change in approach.

That's all good and well if he's actually a frontrunner battling for something other than 15th. The fact of the matter is he not a factor in the championship battle, and he, more than anybody else, knows it, accepts it, and has placed his focus elsewhere.

He has no chance at the championship to begin with. He's not creating rivalries by going for wins. He's riling up drivers who are running 22nd. He has only finished in the top 10 in one-third of the races contested so far this year, and he's already 89 points out of the lead after the postseason opener.

Take Corey Heim, whom he flipped off at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before Heim won the Brickyard 400. Is 26 wins and a Truck Series championship vs. six wins a rivalry? Is two wins in 18 Cup starts (with zero full-time experience) vs. one win in 108 Cup starts a rivalry that is supposedly going to "save NASCAR" for generations to come?

Give me a break.

But that kind of a rivalry is not Hocevar's real goal, and it's time that fans admit that.

Whatever payback (if any) eventually comes his way, he's going to do what he always does to begin with and milk it to drive up his merchandise sales and further solidify himself as a cult hero among his fanbase. He's not worried about throwing away a 14th place finish if it means he finally got under a competitor's skin and can generate more attention and more revenue with it.

It's exactly why his fans have gravitated toward him to begin with. Unlike with other villains in NASCAR's long history, it was never about results with this one.

Everything he does, he does to get a rise out of his competitors. Everything. He's not here to chase wins. Winning is a nice bonus, and we've already seen him get a pass for his only win coming on a superspeedway (which earns anybody else the "fraud" label), but this is exactly why the whole "just like Dale Earnhardt" nonsense is exactly that: nonsense.

These days, the main defense of his actions is supposedly the fact that he can sell more magnets and koozies than anybody else. Any publicity is considered good publicity, and no matter what side of the fence you're on, that's a point that's hard to argue; his team loves it, his sponsors love it, and quite frankly, the hate he continues to get for it is a net positive for the sport.

The more it's talked about, the more he loves it, whether that talk is praise or criticism, and whether he's finishing in the top 10 or being lapped.

That's what he cares about. It's all about the brand. At the end of the day, it's influencer behavior. And as Denny Hamlin put it, it's as unserious as it gets in terms of the sport itself.

Quite frankly, given who some of NASCAR's other "influencer" drivers are, Hocevar has actually raised the bar on performance, even if you completely ignore his attention-seeking antics. But that's a subject for another day. While he's by no means a generational talent or even a top-tier driver, absolutely nobody is saying he is a no-talent bum.

But let's keep it real here: his whole act, whether it's really an act or not, is absolutely working.

You want to talk about how smug, arrogant, cocky, and obnoxious he is? Good. Because that's exactly what he's trying to be. And that's exactly how he wants to be viewed.

The only counter to that would be the idea that he would not respond well if somebody does actually pay him back, and that could actually hold some weight.

Would he actually care then?

Hocevar spun himself off the front of Connor Zilisch's car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, then threw intentionally ran into Zilisch when the two got back together to show his displeasure. To Hocevar's credit, he actually did admit after the race that the initial contact was his fault, but furthering the unapologetic narrative, said nothing about the contact that ensued.

So perhaps it would rattle him a little bit; we've seen this from other young and hot-headed drivers before throughout NASCAR history. But certainly not enough to keep him from being just as loud and abrasive later on, as we saw literally only a few laps afterward.

Right now, his only chance at a real rivalry is with Chase Elliott in the Most Popular Driver voting, and despite all the nonstop talk about him whether he finishes ninth or 29th on the race track, you're probably kidding yourself if you actually think that vote will be close. But who knows? Maybe he'll spin him out next week so he can sell another new t-shirt.

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