Carson Hocevar’s spin of Brad Keselowski, and his subsequent interview shrugging off the contact, have dominated the NASCAR conversation in the week after Darlington.
Denny Hamlin has weighed in, as have NASCAR Hall of Famers, as has Hocevar’s team owner, and many, many others.
Freddie Kraft, spotter for Bubba Wallace and host of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, had some especially sharp words for Hocevar after the exchange.
“I can’t decide if I want to unload or just laugh it off,” Kraft said. “He wants attention. I heard Denny’s show yesterday where he said, ‘I’m not giving him the clip he wants.’ I’m going to give him the clip he wants, because he’s doing dumb sh*t. I’m going to call him out on it.”
Kraft was angry with Hocevar on several fronts. First, he took issue with how flippant Hocevar has come across over his recent wrecks, and Spire’s decision to lean into the controversy.
“It’s funny to me because they put out that stupid social post the other day, which was just ammunition for every other team in the sport, where it’s a picture of him and every derogatory thing,” Kraft said. “It’s like they’re celebrating it. And then he gets out of the car the other night and he’s talking about, ‘Well I just do it for clicks. I just do it for clicks.’ So now the first thing you’re thinking about in your interview when you just got done racing the Southern 500 is what we said on this podcast or what somebody else said about you somewhere else on a different show? That shouldn’t be your f***ing mindset.”
But on a different level, Kraft is also frustrated with what he sees as Hocevar wasting his talents.
“My biggest problem is that I think he could be one of the best drivers in our sport,” he said. “Because I think if he just f***ing focused on driving the race car to the best of its ability, he could be as great as he wants to be.”
“My anger isn’t because he spun Brad out or did a stupid interview. My anger is he’s wasting how talented he is playing a f***ing game. It’s a game to him.”
Kraft lamented that he had given Hocevar the clip he wanted, but stood by his decision to call him out.
“He’s going to enjoy the fact that I’m this mad about it,” Kraft said. “You know what I mean? ‘Haha, look I got him again.’ Meanwhile, you’re the one plummeting in the standings. If you’re just happy pissing me off every week, good. If this is the attention you want, good, you got it.”
“As long as people are going to do dumb sh*t, we’re going to talk about it on this show,” he concluded.
While Kraft was mad at Hocevar for what he saw as wasted potential, there was one aspect of the controversy that he was all in favor of — Hocevar’s drop down the standings.
After climbing as high as fifth in the standings in late July, Hocevar dropped down to 12th by the start of the Chase due to a poor finish to the regular season. Kraft and the No. 23 team meanwhile, jumped four spots in the standings at Darlington, including right over Hocevar.
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