Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson shared a candid take on his No.77 driver, Carson Hocevar, taking out Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville Superspeedway. He expressed how managing a young driver is akin to 'being a parent', where you can't change them but can guide them through their mistakes.
During Sunday's (June 1) Cracker Barrel 400, Stenhouse Jr. moved into Hocevar's line early into the second stage, resulting in a contact from behind that sent the former spinning into the outside wall. Stenhouse Jr. initially pitted and rejoined on the lead lap, but the damage sustained by his No.47 Chevy proved too severe, forcing him to retire from the race altogether. The result marked his first DNF of the season, while Hocevar went on to match his career-best result at second.
During a podcast episode of Dirty Mo Media's Door Bumper Clear, Hocevar's boss discussed his approach with the 22-year-old driver.
"Full transparency. Here's what I said, man, you didn't need to do that. You know you just didn't need to do that. It wasn't going to cost him anything to let Ricky back in line. I just wish he would have cut him a break.....it's like they're too young to know that it's cool to be like 'Man I f**ked that up'," Dickerson said
"I want to teach Carson how it is, Quote Unquote. I'm not trying to change him....It's just like being a parent. Sometimes your kid just wants to shut his hand in the car door to see if it hurts right. Sometimes you just got to let them," he added.
Dickerson also mentioned that he wished to preserve his relationship with Stenhouse Jr. and hoped that this incident wouldn't 'cloud it'. That being said, Stenhouse Jr. spoke to the media post-race and confirmed that he'll have a talk with Carson Hocevar about his 'overaggressive' tactics.
Carson Hocevar reflects on his incident with Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville
Carson Hocevar delivered a verdict on his 'common move' that ended up wrecking Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville Superspeedway. After claiming his second top-five result of the season, the Spire Motorsports driver spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on the controversial incident with Stenhouse Jr..
"I feel like that was just a common move with how big of a run I had..... I’m sure he’ll want to talk about it. I’ll talk about it," he said via Speedway Digest.
Carson Hocevar believed that his move would typically result in drivers getting 'shipped' but acknowledged that he'd have to look at the replays to gauge the situation better. These incidents have been a running theme for Hocevar, with a previous incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway seeing him spin out Ryan Blaney with 27 laps remaining. 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson spoke about the issue and warned Hocevar about making one too many enemies on track.
Nonetheless, Hocevar continues to impress on track, moving up five places in the Driver's standings after Nashville. He currently ranks 17th with 287 points, just one spot above Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
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