Skip to main content
Join Now
NASCAR Logo

Dale Earnhardt Jr. critical of Carson Hocevar strategy at Michigan NASCAR race

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones06/11/25brianjones_93
Carson Hocevar
Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not a big fan of Carson Hocevar‘s strategy during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt shared his thoughts on Hocevear having a strong start before coming up short at the end.

“He had more speed again. Three weeks in a row they had race-winning speed, I would say,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “They had another week where they had a chance to win the race. I can’t really say, though, he had a chance to win. They didn’t have the fuel.

“If they ran long enough and the caution comes out and everybody’s like ‘Ah, enough laps left, we all go to come get tires,’ then maybe he’s got the track position and there’s a chance to win. But if the race goes green, he didn’t have the fuel.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares more on Carson Hocevar’s performance at Michigan

Earnhardt was asked if he liked Carson Hocevar’s strategy of being aggressive in leading the race. “No,” he replied. “Becuase they can’t get to the finish.” Earnhardt then said, “Hocevar lost 14 points to the bubble. I’m not sure where they might have ended up if they didn’t make that gamble, but he’s 18 points out of the playoffs, lost 14 to the bubble. If they take the 10th or the 12th or the eighth place… He didn’t have the fuel to get to the finish. Anybody with a top-15 or top-20 car could have tried that strategy and led the race and looked just like him.”

When it was all said and done, Hocevar finished 29th at Michigan. However, his aggressive driving led to him earning top-10 finishes in Stages 1 and 2 and leading 32 laps during the final stage. A left-rear tire issue caused Hocevar to fall with 19 laps remaining.

“Absolutely, just a superstar when it comes to actual raw talent,” Michigan race winner Denny Hamlin said when discussing Hocevar, per NASCAR.com. “When he figures out how to harness that, pick and choose the moments where he is aggressive, he’s going to put it all together and just be the next whoever. There’s five to six elite drivers in this field. He can be one of those five or six very easily when he puts it all together.”