Carson Hocevar has been one of the vital talked-about younger drivers in NASCAR after Connor Zilisch. His rise started within the Truck Collection, the place followers argued he deserved a Cup shot. As soon as that got here, his aggressive type grew to become the lightning rod. Many assumed that will be his largest false impression, but when requested lately, Hocevar revealed individuals usually misjudge his work ethic.
Showing on Jeff Gluck’s 12 Questions phase, the Spire Motorsports driver admitted, “I believe the consensus is, ‘He doesn’t attempt. He doesn’t put in any effort. He simply reveals up.’ I really feel like I do (attempt). I’ve been alive for 22 years, and I’ve been analyzing racing since I used to be 4.”
Hocevar recalled sitting on the kitchen counter whereas his mom learn off pylons from the tv, transferring diecasts round to create his personal scoring tower. He watched races at Kalamazoo and Berlin, questioning choices like, “Why didn’t you go to the highest? Why didn’t you slide right here?”
That intuition carried into Cup, the place he nonetheless dissects his personal errors. For him, the years of examine permit him to “present up blind,” although in actuality, he leans on 20 years of psychological preparation. The important thing now, he insists, is staying open-minded to how the automobile feels and letting the race dictate the remaining.
To outsiders, his strategies could seem unorthodox. Many imagine he lacks seriousness, however Hocevar insists he runs races in his head consistently, strolling, driving, or daydreaming. That psychological simulation, he argues, is simpler than poring over movie.
He pointed to his 2022 Truck Collection pole at Sonoma, the place he lacked service on the airplane and couldn’t watch footage. As an alternative, he visualized the race for 2 hours. The concepts clicked, and he received the pole. That second cemented visualization as his software of selection.
As he put it, “I don’t care what individuals assume or say until they’re on this hauler with me, however I believe that interprets to ‘I don’t care how I end or how I run or placing in any effort or any work or taking a look at knowledge.’”
For him, avoiding knowledge is much less lazy than preserving intuition. In a approach, his course of isn’t any totally different than Kyle Larson enhancing in Cup by means of dash automobile reps, only a totally different path to the identical finish.
Hocevar might not match the mould of typical preparation, however in his eyes, that individuality is his edge.
