Freddie Kraft defends Carson Hocevar over Mexico City caution, suggests NASCAR rule change

In the last month, Carson Hocevar has become the main character in NASCAR, for both good and bad reasons, in recent weeks. While he surely made mistakes last week in Mexico City, there is one thing that Freddie Kraft is willing to defend Hocevar over.

Carson Hocevar has the speed. He has the personality. Yet, both have gotten him in hot water. Whether it’s racing too aggressively on the track or saying things he shouldn’t on his Twitch stream, there is a certain finesse that he doesn’t yet have at 22 years old.

Even before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was spun out at Mexico City by Hocevar, he had called out the young driver for causing a late caution. The 77 spun out late in the race. Hocevar ended up sideways on the track with the driver’s side facing traffic around a turn. So, NASCAR threw the yellow.

For that incident, Freddie Kraft, spotter for Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing, has a bit of sympathy for Hocevar. That’s probably the only defense he’s getting this week on Door Bumper Clear.

“Spot off for him, kind of, drawing the caution,” Kraft explained. “I want to bash him, but it was a tricky spot, because it was a blind corner, if they had a spotter in Turn 15, it was a blind corner for that spotter. … But where he was sitting, you know the thing is, it’s Hocevar so he doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt again.”

Carson Hocevar definitely doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. He has been racing in NASCAR since he was a teenager. He took a bit of a fast track to the Cup Series. As a talent that the entire industry acknowledges, he has more to work on.

Freddie Kraft defends Carson Hocevar for late spin, not the wave around

It was a bit of a kindness Freddie Kraft did for Carson Hocevar. Tommy Baldwin was waiting, and rightfully so, to tear into the driver for his later mistake. The moment he spun Ricky Stenhouse Jr. out while a lap down.

“I think anybody else that’s sitting there, you know, you saw the 1 car just miss him coming around that corner, and he doesn’t know what’s coming around that corner,” Kraft explained. “Because he’s blind, he doesn’t have a spotter, if he does have a s[potter in 15, they’re kind of blind still. So, you don’t really want to move because you may be moving into harm’s [way] … So, I don’t want to really knock him for the yellow, but what really didn’t sit well with me is that he sat there, drew the yellow, and then benefited from the wave around because he drew the caution.”

Freddie went on to ask for a rule change regarding that situation. The way the free pass/lucky dog works is if you were in the caution, you can’t benefit from that pass. However, you can still take the wave around. Kraft wants to see that change in the future to prevent drivers from taking the wave around who were involved in the caution.

People, at this point, want to see Carson Hocevar crash or win, it seems. There aren’t many agnostics on Hocevar, who is 20th in points. This week is another test for the 77 team. A fast, high-speed track with plenty of room to race? Unless Spire just whiffs this week on his car, I have to think he will be in contention.