Carson Hocevar made some pointed criticisms towards NASCAR claiming the sanctioning body does not have a clue about what the real problems are with the sport in its current, modern form.
Hocevar made his comments in a post to Facebook while noting that he was watching the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
He started by observing how great the race was, “It’s insane we as a sport produce the product we give to fans and wonder why fans have lost interest. This race is beautiful. The sights, the sounds, the cars, the production, the commentators.”
“It’s clear as day why the sport is where it’s at and not where it once was,” he continued. “The entertainment value of this race is so much better and so visually more appealing.”
“Casual fans just wanna be entertained. They don’t care about aero, engine packages, downforce, drag, tire wear. They truly don’t care. They just wanna be visually entertained and feel like they’re not wasting their time watching something that’s not prestigious,” he wrote.
From there he took aim at the production of the TV coverage of the sport, “We’re on the ventilator and asleep at the wheel of what the real problems are. Back in the day you can see the innovation year to year of the broadcast quality and them trying to always improve. Now it’s just cutting stuff to improve the bottom line and wondering why people lose interest or are no longer impressed. There’s nothing new. Eventually they’ve seen it all or it’s a shell of what it once was and there’s no point of tuning in.”
In a follow-up post to X, Hocevar clarified, “i love nascar. never get that lost in translation of passion and criticism of itself. my number one complaint is having to convince people that it’s better in person to make someone become a fan because it’s that big of a difference. i am so over saying that line.”
i love nascar. never get that lost in translation of passion and criticism of itself. my number one complaint is having to convince people that it’s better in person to make someone become a fan because it’s that big of a difference. i am so over saying that line.
— Carson Hocevar (@CarsonHocevar) July 28, 2026
Additionally, Hocevar indicated that this his original complaints are one of the reasons that he and Spire Motorsports have been doing more dirt racing, “besides the fact we love it and we just wanna go dirt racing because we are fans of it. spire makes it make sense business wise because we can go to the fans. not try and get them to come to us. someone of them can only afford to go to a dirt track or local paved track.”
besides the fact we love it and we just wanna go dirt racing because we are fans of it. spire makes it make sense business wise because we can go to the fans. not try and get them to come to us. someone of them can only afford to go to a dirt track or local paved track.
— Carson Hocevar (@CarsonHocevar) July 28, 2026
These comments are not out of the ordinary for Hocevar. Back in May 2022, he shared, “racing product is getting better and better. ball is now in nascar’s marketing/production team to re-energize the sport.”
racing product is getting better and better. ball is now in nascar’s marketing/production team to re-energize the sport.
— Carson Hocevar (@CarsonHocevar) May 15, 2022
Hocevar currently sits 5th in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Standings following a 9th place finish in the Brickyard 400. He is 248 points behind current leader Denny Hamlin. He is 113 points behind fourth place Ty Gibbs. He is in a tight battle for fifth. He has a 3 point advantage over Chase Elliot, a 15 point gap over Chase Briscoe, 21 points over Kyle Larson, and 25 point lead over Chris Buescher. In 22 starts, he got his first win at Talladega, has 5 Top 5s, 9 Top 10s, and has led 156 laps.
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