Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte give hot takes on Carson Hocevar, aggressive nature

Carson Hocevar has been the talk of the NASCAR world this week after his performance in this past Sunday’s race at Atlanta.

Hocevar and the aggressive nature of his driving earned him some enemies in Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain; Blaney and Chastain even confronted him on pit road after the race. Hocevar was going for his first win in the Cup Series, and while Jeff Burton admits the 22-year-old has loads of talent, he believes Hocevar needs to find a balance between that aggression and being smarter in certain situations.

“Blaney, I think said it really well, like, just calm down. But that’s his [Hocevar] personality. One thing that we’ve talked about a lot… their personalities come out when they’re driving racecars. He’s clearly aggressive, not afraid to ruffle feathers, he’s not worried about making somebody mad. He’s here to earn his way, and part of that I love,” the NBC Sports analyst said. “It’s a tough way to make a living — you have to be aggressive, you have to stand your ground, you can’t take any crap from anybody because if you do, they’ll run all over you. And he has to find a better balance than what he’s been able to find I think to have long-term success.

“But that’s my opinion. He may not need to change anything and win a bunch of championships. I think it will be easier for him to harness it a little bit. … There’s no question he has talent, but I think he wants everyone to respect him. I also think there’s an edge about him that he’s like, ‘You know what, I know you guys — you’re swimming with sharks — and if I’m weak, you’re gonna eat me.’ And he doesn’t want that to happen, and he’s just gonna do it his way. We shouldn’t be surprised about that.”

While the conversation was civil, the words from Hocevar weren’t all that satisfactory to Chastain, who told Alan Cavanna that he didn’t wish to share what the two talked about but indicated he did not hear what he wanted from Hocevar in response.

“No sir,” Chastain said.

It’s not hard to see why Blaney was upset at Hocevar. Blaney was sent spinning by Hocevar on Lap 234 while racing near the front of the pack. Blaney miraculously saved it on the apron with no damage. But on the radio, Blaney was irate.

“He’s just a moron,” Blaney said. “He just runs right into the back of you. Has zero idea of where to bump somebody, where not to, he’s swiping across my bumper as he’s doing it. He just has no idea the whole race.”

Steve Letarte ‘didn’t love’ Carson Hocevar’s postrace apology

Hocevar did find himself side-by-side with Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson for the lead on the final lap of overtime. Coming down the backstretch, Hocevar gave Bell a push and sandwiched himself in the middle. A multi-car wreck behind the leaders brought the caution flag out, giving Bell the victory.

Hocevar, a Chevrolet driver, apologized to Hendrick Motorsports for pushing a Toyota in that moment. Steve Letarte, Burton’s NBC Sports colleague, didn’t love Hocevar’s apology.

“There are many times that if I was Hocevar’s crew chief, on Monday we would review some tape and I’d be like, ‘you can’t do this,’ because that’s part of coaching. He does things with a racecar that I don’t have an ability to do; if I did, I had been a racecar driver. … I didn’t love what he had to say after the race,” Letarte said. “One thing I didn’t love was the, ‘Man, I made a mistake, I should have went with the 5 [Larson].’ So, I disagree. If we go back to the backstretch, this is a driver going for the win. Nowhere to go left or right, gives the 20 [Bell] a monster shot and then, he just elbows up between the two of them beating and banging.

“Now, the yellow comes out and we know the results of the race. I don’t know if he would have won… that is the blink of an eye thing you don’t talk about. You don’t telegraph that, you don’t run that in a simulator. I don’t care what you do, you only have so many chances to win the race. And what do you do in those moments? I liked what I saw from the 77 and that aggression, unlike the aggression I didn’t like earlier.”