NASCAR legend issues Rick Hendrick warning to Carson Hocevar

Carson Hocevar has blown through NASCAR like a hurricane in 2025 - some folks are even calling him ‘Hurricane Hocevar’ these days (sorry, Denny).

The 22-year-old driver has shown plenty of potential on track this season, but he has also ruffled a ton of feathers in the process.

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High-profile beef with the likes of Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ryan Blaney (who called him 'a weapon' and 'a moron'), and more recently Zane Smith, have seen Hocevar create a name for himself, not always for the right reasons.

As of now Carson is entertaining people - he apparently cares little about what his rivals think of him, and he is pretty happy to play to the gallery. On Friday night he took to social media to apologize for a series of wrecks, in a race he wasn’t even competing in…

It's likely that at some stage in the future Hocevar will run into bigger issues, and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr believes he knows exactly when that will happen.

He used the all-powerful Rick Hendrick - owner of the behemoth that is Hendrick Motorsports - to make his point.

Dale Jr on 'Hurricane' Hocevar

Speaking on his podcast, Jr said: “I am entertained by Hocevar until it becomes my problem… That goes back to the same thing. I think it’s all fine until he does something that irks a Hendrick or somebody that’s directly above his chain of command.

“I think you know if he goes out there and impeded the lap for Larson and the big man gets upset, because the big man has some influence over Spire. The big man has influence over most things Chevrolet.

“And so when you start messing with what his program’s doing or what he’s trying to accomplish, that’s when the vice gets a little tight and Carson will feel that. But until that happens… he’s not going to make the adjustments ’cause he doesn’t feel like he needs to. Not going to change.”

Hocevar has registered six top-10 Cup Series finishes in 2025 - including second-place efforts in Atlanta and Nashville. He also claimed a Truck Series win in Kansas in May.

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