NASCAR insider unpacks confusing Carson Hocevar reaction after P2 Nashville finish

Carson Hocevar tied his career-best finish as the runner-up in Nashville this past weekend. However, his reaction following the Cracker Barrel 400 was a bit surprising to many in the NASCAR world.

The Spire Motorsports wheelman wasn’t exactly satisfied. Instead, he was somber and disjointed. That caught the ears of Jeff Gluck, who dove into Hocevar’s reaction on the latest episode of The Teardown.

“He was very disappointed and subdued afterwards. I was a little bit confused why that was,” Gluck stated, regarding Hocevar’s reaction. “I asked him about — I didn’t understand. This was only the third top-five he’s had. He tied his best career finish, but he’s not happy.

“Basically, he said, when he was a fan, he felt like he really hated it when he saw drivers get out of their car and act happy that they finished second or third. He always decided and vowed that, if he was ever in that situation, you weren’t going to see him be happy to finish second. In his opinion, he could’ve erased all of his bad finishes, and all of his bad starts this season, with one moment.

“So, even though he was second, and he doesn’t think he was necessarily better car-wise than Ryan Blaney, he felt like, you know, it was still really disappointing to finish second. That said, he moved up five spots in the playoff standings. He’s now sort of right on the cusp of being in contention.”

Alas, it feels like Hocevar is on the precipice of becoming a major threat week after week in the Cup Series, but the young wheelman doesn’t want to wait any longer. In the meantime, he’s not making many friends, namely Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wasn’t happy with him in Tennessee last Sunday.

We’ll see if there’s any revenge coming his way, along with his first potential win of his career in the Cup Series. Regardless, it feels like Carson Hocevar has arrived. He’s fast, and looking to make a name of himself in NASCAR.

“We were on a pretty solid roll of just getting solid finishes and keeping ourselves in the points. Kind of like I told Carson, I don’t mind a good rivalry, but I don’t want a rivalry for running 15th. Like, if we’re battling for wins and in the top five week in and week out, that’s great. But having a rivalry not competing for wins is kind of difficult. Kind of takes away from the focus of what we’re trying to do at Hyak which is trying to get ourselves back in the points standings and into the playoffs.”