Inside The Garage: Carson Hocevar Is Exactly What NASCAR Needs

Here’s what’s happening this week Inside The Garage: Talladega Superspeedway (Talladega, Ala.) — It was a weekend where all the talk was about the future of NASCAR and the change in CEO. Then, as timing would have it, a very important person when it comes to the future of the sport celebrated on the track. The mostly unapologetic 22-year-old Carson Hocevar won at Talladega Superspeedway. He has generated some enemies on the racetrack but more frenemies. His goofiness and love for racing is infectious. His sometimes boneheaded moves on the track? Not so much. But those moves have become fewer as he matures in his third year of Cup racing for Spire Motorsports, an organization that has a little bit of a renegade attitude. “You already have Carson’s irrational confidence,” Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson said in his postrace news conference. “He’s going to show up in a fur coat on Monday.” It’s that willingness to live free of conventional boundaries that has fans enamored with Hocevar. Not all fans, though. There are some who feel he doesn’t treat his competitors nor his equipment with respect. He had the celebration of the win planned where he worked the throttle with his long legs and sat on the window waving and pointing to the crowd. The fans loved it. Some drivers would be afraid to plan out a celebration. They wouldn’t want to jinx it. Not Hocevar. As Dickerson said, Hocevar has irrational confidence. “I felt like it was an if, not when, so I felt like I wasn’t jinxing myself,” Hocevar said in his postrace news conference. “I was just kind of putting the confidence in it. I knew we were going to do it at some point. I knew we were going to do it pretty soon.” The victory also was a sign of Hocevar’s growth as a driver. He came close to winning the Daytona 500 before getting turned on the final lap. “Obviously, the 500, I think I’ve ran that back about 1,000 times in my head and was pretty confident the next big superspeedway we went to that we’re going to do it and take it back,” Hocevar said. It was just the second win for Spire and the first in a race that wasn’t rain-shortened. It was a culmination of an eight-year process of starting a race team and building it to a point where it is now part of TWG Motorsports, the group that owns Andretti Global in INDYCAR, Cadillac F1 and teams in other racing series. “Jeff truly believes we can make a championship organization out of this,” said Hocevar, who improved to eighth in the standings. “That’s why we’re all here. That’s why we’re all living it. We believe it ourselves. This isn’t a shock to any of us. Everybody says they want to win, but we truly believe in ourselves.” Several drivers went to Victory Lane to congratulate Hocevar on his first Cup win. They understand the struggles he’s gone through and likely view this victory as a sign of growth. As he drove to Victory Lane, Chase Elliott went over to his car and congratulated him. “I’m really happy for Carson,” Elliott told me and other reporters on pit road. “He’s done a great job. He’s really been deserving. He’s been really close a lot, too. … That’s a pretty special thing to win your first race. “I’m sure it’ll be a hurt Monday morning for him, there’s no doubt.” The symbolism of his victory was hard to ignore. He said he was inspired by watching Dale Earnhardt Jr. race at Talladega and win so often. Earnhardt retired after the 2017 season. And since about that time, the sport has searched for drivers who electrified the fan base. There have been some (Elliott for sure is one of them) but the sport seems to be looking for the next superstar who wants to watch races from the grandstands (as Hocevar does) and has the enthusiasm that the driver gets to live the dream. This all came on a weekend when the sport named a new Chief Executive Officer. Steve O’Donnell said the sport needs to get back to having fun again. He won’t ban the borderline dangerous celebration. With all respect to O’Donnell, the fans don’t connect with a CEO. They connect with the drivers. If O’Donnell is going to be successful in his new role, he needs the Carson Hocevars of the world to thrive. “There’s kind of like this big juxtaposition of how sometimes the garage looks at Carson, then you see the crowd up there going ape-s**t while he’s hanging out the window,” Dickerson said. “It’s going to take stuff like that. “That personality connects. Obviously, it’s on the drivers. They’re the biggest part of it. It’s going to take the teams, and it’s going to take NASCAR itself. … It’s kind of like what we’ve done here at Spire. It’s going to take everybody in there to keep pushing this forward. I know Carson will do his part, for sure.” Reddick Agrees To Extension Tyler Reddick made it official as he confirmed he would remain at 23XI Racing with a multiyear contract extension. Reddick was in a contract year and coming off a winless 2025. It was easy to wonder if he would go to another team. But he won five of the first nine races, including the Daytona 500, so remaining at 23XI appeared to be a formality. He confirmed to me after the race at Talladega that he had not even reached the point where he personally could talk to other teams, so he didn’t consider any specific offers. “We’re trying to try to build something great here, and it’s been a great process along the way, and for us to have the gains and the resilience to overcome last year the way that we have says a lot about this group,” Reddick told me. “I’m excited to keep building that as the years go by.” Gabehart Still Limited In Role U.S. District Court Judge Susan Rodriguez issued a preliminary injunction against Spire Motorsports chief motorsports officer Chris Gabehart. The injunction is similar to the restraining order that Joe Gibbs Racing obtained to keep their former competition director from using his JGR experience for the benefit of Spire. Gabehart can still go to races but cannot perform similar duties to his competition director role. Judge Rodriguez noted in her ruling: — Gabehart took confidential information that belonged to JGR, but there is no evidence (at least not yet) that Spire has that info. — Spire had not engaged in any illegal conduct in hiring Gabehart from JGR. — Gabehart’s 18-month non-compete as far as the competition director role is enforceable. Gabehart argued it wasn’t, alleging JGR breached contract by withholding pay. One of the next rulings from the judge will be whether to expedite and have a trial by the end of 2026 (which JGR has asked for) or whether it will be in spring 2027 (which Spire has requested). In The News — Kyle Busch has a new crew chief. Performance director Andy Street, a former crew chief for Austin Hill in the O’Reilly Series, will replace Jim Pohlman. Pohlman, who took the role this year, will remain with the organization in the competition department. — Cleetus McFarland’s next O’Reilly Series race will be in late May in Nashville, where he will again drive for Richard Childress Racing. — INDYCAR’s Independent Officiating Board has named its managing director of officiating, former CART and IMSA technical director Scot Elkins. Ellkins will oversee everything from technical inspection (headed by Kevin “Rocket” Blanch) and race director (headed Kyle Novak) and report to the board. The board was instituted to keep the officiating at arm’s length from the Penske Entertainment Group’s running of the series because Team Penske fields cars in the series. — Acura announced it will pause its IMSA program following the 2026 season, which potentially could impact the Meyer Shank Racing INDYCAR operation. Marcus Armstrong will have Acura branding for his Indy 500 car as the brand (which is under the Honda banner) increases its presence in INDYCAR. Without the Acura-supported sports car program, Shank could opt to operate a third INDYCAR team, considering it already likely would in 2028 because it is expected to field the chartered car that Honda will get as part of the new agreements with Honda and Chevrolet. Why The Call? Denny Hamlin could not take the wave-around even though the leader, Noah Gragson, pitted before the race went back to green during the final stage. The problem was, the pits were already closed, as they are when drivers come to choose a lap before going back to green. NASCAR does not let a driver get the wave-around after the pits are closed. It allowed Zane Smith to get it earlier in the race, but NASCAR said that was a mistake. Social Spotlight They Said It “He looks like Shamu hanging out the window at Sea World.” — Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson on the Hocevar celebration. In Inside The Garage, Bob Pockrass takes us behind the scenes of the motorsports world the way only he can.