Dale Earnhardt Jr. came away with mixed opinions about Carson Hocevar and the misadventures along the way towards winning in his Truck Series one-off return last Friday at Kansas Speedway.
First, Hocevar held off a hard charging Layne Riggs, including contact between the two on the final lap, and drove away to the checkered flag all the while holding out his left hand so he could flip off his closest pursuer.
Hocevar also called Riggs ‘kid,’ despite both being 22. In fact, Riggs is five months older than Hocevar. Earnhardt didn’t like that, even though he appreciated the flair of personality. His takeaways were heard on the Wednesday episode of the Dale Jr Download podcast.
“Riggs is older than him,” Earnhardt said. “Is he self-appointing himself some sort of veteran? Y’all heard that shit? ‘Man, that kid’s gonna win a lot of races.’ What the fuck dude? You’re a kid. That was a very egotistical move. I think it’s an asinine way to look at things. …I know that Riggs is not in Cup, but in terms of ability, talent, I don’t really set them too far apart. You could put Riggs in the 77 (Spire Motorsports car) and eventually get reasonable results.”
Earnhardt also said he appreciated the middle finger and that he would have flipped off Riggs too.
“Layne Riggs goes down into Turn 1. He’s underneath Hocevar, wrecked them both. The fucking wall saved Hocevar,” Earnhardt said. “…How much talent does that take to go down in the corner, drive up the racetrack into the guy’s left-rear corner panel, damn near wreck both of you. I’d have flipped his ass off too.”
All told, Earnhardt says he is giving Hocevar patience and grace to evolve into his own.
“Most people are 22-year-old 22-year-olds, and they’re going to fuck up,” Earnhardt said. They’re going to act like that, and it’s going to be too big for them, and they’re going to fuck up a lot. If you can be patient with a guy like Hocevar, the 26-year-old Hocevar will be the driver that you want him to be.”
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