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Kevin Harvick says Carson Hocevar‘s season finally caught up with him at Homestead, and he speaks from experience.
On his Happy Hour podcast, the 2014 Cup champion said Hocevar’s suspension for the season finale was the result of a full year of behavior, not just one race.
“The fact that Hocevar got kicked out. And going back to the beginning of the season, when you talk about everything, there is a certain way that you have to go about all this,” Harvick said. “And in the last race of the season, it caught up with Carson Hocevar and how you have to deal with things. You can’t just do whatever you want in Cup racing.”
https://x.com/HarvickHappyPod/status/2120554996332675386
‘Been There’
Harvick said the talent isn’t the question.
“He’s got the talent, and he has the ability,” Harvick said. “But there’s just a way that you have to go about conducting yourself. Been there.”
Harvick knows the lesson firsthand. In 2002, he was fined after a post-race altercation with Greg Biffle following a Busch Series race at Bristol. Weeks later, NASCAR parked him for intentionally wrecking in a Truck Series race at Martinsville and extended the suspension to the next day’s Cup race, making him the first driver suspended from a Cup race for on-track behavior.
Why Spire Sat Hocevar Down
Spire Motorsports suspended Hocevar for the Homestead finale after he repeatedly brake-checked Austin Cindric at Martinsville, damaging Cindric’s No. 2 Ford and ending his race. NASCAR separately fined Hocevar $100,000 and docked him 25 points. Justin Haley drove the No. 77 in his place.
Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson said the team could have left it to NASCAR but had its own standards.
“The way Carson conducted himself at Martinsville doesn’t meet the standard we set for our drivers, team members, or employees, and there are consequences for that,” Dickerson said. He added that Spire still supports Hocevar.
A Season of Flashpoints
Martinsville was the latest in a long list of incidents in Hocevar’s breakout season. He tangled with Brad Keselowski at Darlington, had a running feud with Zane Smith that included a wreck at Chicagoland, and had a late-race run-in with Ryan Blaney at Bristol that ended in a scuffle afterward.
Hocevar also made the Chase and finished 14th in the final standings. He has since said his past fines didn’t change his behavior because “maybe the stove wasn’t hot enough.”
He’ll get a new kind of test in 2027. Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that Hocevar will drive at least one O’Reilly Series race for JR Motorsports, with a warning: “Dude, don’t run into nobody.”
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