Controversial Carson Hocevar has a five-point plan to fix NASCAR

Carson Hocevar is seen by many fans and analysts as a breath of fresh air for NASCAR, so who better to fix the struggling sport?

The 22-year-old ‘Hurricane’ has taken the sport literally by storm, creating headlines on and off track. Sometimes for his ability to cause a wreck or two, sometimes for his obsession with buying classic vehicles on Facebook Marketplace.

Whether you love him or hate him, Hocevar is proving to be box office for a sport which is really struggling to entice TV audiences to watch its much-maligned playoff format.

So what would a relative newcomer do to ‘fix the sport’? Hocevar was asked just that question when he was the subject of the latest ‘12 Questions’ interview with the excellent Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. He had a fascinating five-point plan in response.

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Carson Hocevar on playoffs or not

Let’s get the big one out of the way first - Hocevar is OUT on the current playoff format and IN on a return to a championship decided over a full season format.

“A full-season points format would help. That’s a start. Or a lot closer to one,” he told Gluck.

The next point Hocevar makes is about the infighting in the sport - it comes with Michael Hamlin, Denny Hamlin and their 23XI Racing team involved in a bitter court battle with NASCAR.

Hocevar explained: “Right now, it feels like the whole sport is in a finger-pointing challenge: the networks, teams, drivers, NASCAR - everyone’s fighting for their margin of it while the total pool of funds gets smaller. As you’re bleeding, you’re not (addressing) the wound, you’re just wanting to blame who caused the wound. But you’re still losing blood.”

Third point from Hocevar is around buyin, clearly there just isn’t enough right now. Why would somebody switch off NFL football on a Sunday afternoon to watch SvG batter his rivals at the Roval?

“Ultimately, people just need to care,” said Hocevar.

“Attendance at the track has been good, but TV numbers aren’t. People blame “society” (for less viewers), but football still gets watched. It needs more prestige. F1 racing isn’t great, but the prestige is very high, and it’s very traditional.”

Bring more beef, please

The next thing on Hocevar’s list of fixes is beef, and this comes from a man who definitely knows beef. Remember those flashpoints with Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jnr, Zane Smith (and others).

He claimed: “Drivers need to be willing to show more and be allowed to show more frustration. The TV product could be a lot better compared to how it used to be. You’ve just somehow got to get people to care all year. There shouldn’t be a format where it’s like, ‘This race doesn’t matter to this guy’.”

Keep things simple

One final point, and this likely once again touches on that playoff system which is pretty complicated (as well as being disliked by so many).

“NASCAR fans can figure it out, but there are so many times when I’ll bring non-NASCAR fans or old fans to the track and they’re so confused.

“There are people who want to become fans because they see the racing, but it’s very difficult for them. They have to try really hard to push through to (understand the formats and points), and I think that’s very difficult.”

So there you have it, a five-point plan to make NASCAR great again. Or at least start to.

It promises to be a fascinating offseason inside the courtroom and out. Let’s see what changes between now and 2026.

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