The next batch of rowdy drivers are lining up fast within NASCAR. And the one leading them would inevitably be Carson Hocevar. The talented racer made a jump from the Craftsman Truck Series to the Cup Series this year, given his stellar finishes. Yet closely accompanying his strong runs are some infamous dramatic moments on the track.

That icky reputation for causing havoc rose up a notch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR’s return to IndyCar’s hallowed track was riddled with wrecks. However, the one involving Carson Hocevar seemed pretty avoidable, as his on-track competitors fumed against him.

Carson Hocevar attracting massive flak from rivals

The Spire Motorsports rookie is barely getting used to wheeling his Cup car. Yet before stamping his stock racing talent, Carson Hocevar has stamped himself as the chaotic one. The recently unfolded Brickyard 400 race also witnessed his well-known antics. On lap 110 of the race, the No. 77 car tried to sandwich himself between two rivals and go three-wide.

But his strategy did not work, and he clipped Ryan Blaney‘s left rear. The No. 12 Team Penske then took a hard hit at Jimmie Johnson‘s No. 84. Johnson, in his turn, collected Joey Logano’s No. 22 as well, and both careened into the wall. Blaney restored his balance somehow, but he lashed out at Carson Hocevar post-race. “77’s on the bottom and he just tried to jam it in the middle lane from the bottom, so you’re just shoving. He just shoved me in the left rear getting in the corner. There’s no room. But it doesn’t surprise me with that guy. He does dumb s*** all the time and he wrecks a ton of cars, and he got away with it.”

Blaney is on point while assessing Carson Hocevar’s rowdy tactics. However, he did not get away with it in Nashville after he intentionally bumped into Harrison Burton during a caution period. NASCAR brought down its axe and docked Hocevar 25 points and fined him $50,000. This is just a portion of his Cup Series tale. Hocevar unleashed chaos during his Truck Series stint as well. For example, he wrecked Corey Heim and himself out of the 2023 Truck championship.

The Brickyard stunt drew flak from another driver as well. Noah Gragson was also part of the chaos, although he did not get hit. He confronted Carson Hocevar post-race, and the two could be seen exchanging some harsh words. However, Gragson seemed fed up while talking about that conversation. “I just talked about the typical stuff that he does on the racetrack…the annoyance of it.” The reactions of both Ryan Blaney and Noah Gragson suggest that Carson Hocevar is steadily losing the respect of his peers with each passing weekend.

However, this is not the first time Gragson harbored ill feelings toward Hocevar.

Hocevar occupied his rival’s ride

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Last year, Noah Gragson was undergoing a tough time. An insensitive social media action led to a downward spiral in his career. NASCAR suspended him, and his race team Legacy Motor Club fired him. Instead, Jimmie Johnson’s team roped in Carson Hocevar to drive the No. 42 Toyota in Gragson’s stead. And that granted Hocevar a jumpstart in the Cup Series. A 17th-place finish in Darlington and a career-best 11th-place finish in Bristol proved his mettle.

Even Gragson’s former crew chief, Luke Lambert, sang praises for Hocevar while Gragson wallowed in misery. “I expect him to do great things in the (Cup Series),” Lambert said. “I think that the opportunity we’ve had to work together this year, I feel like he’s making the most of it and I expect to see him continue that progression.” However, in a turn of events, Carson Hocevar happened to wreck his former team owner out of contention in Indianapolis.

Yet Noah Gragson is happy with his current team, Stewart-Haas Racing, although it will be dismantled soon. After swatting Hocevar’s topic like a pesky fly, Gragson thanked his team for a solid 9th-place result at the Brickyard 400. “Overall a good day, from where we started practice. On Friday, we struggled and then just kept working hard together as a 10 group. I got better for qualifying, qualified 21st…then finished up in the top ten. Drew called a great race strategy. We got stage points in the first stage.”

Evidently, Carson Hocevar’s wrecking attitude is drawing a frown from his rivals. Unless the Spire rookie improves his race attitude soon, earning respect in the garage would be an uphill task for him.