The brazen confidence that Carson Hocevar packs is what makes him stand out from his competitors. On Sunday night in Atlanta, he boasted this character best he could and finished the Autotrader 400 in fourth place. While it was a step short of the potential victory he could have secured, it was still a strong showing of the dangerous driver he can be.
One of the many left torn by his performance was Steve Letarte. The former crew chief loves the aggression that he displays, but also feels that he steps over the line at times. Admittedly, Hocevar was all over the track at Atlanta in the final stage. He made some incredibly nice moves and quite a few dangerous ones.
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But all said and done, Letarte likes a driver who goes on the offense rather than someone who sits back and plays defense. So, he said, “I would much rather have a driver you have to pull the reins than a driver you have to try to nudge to get going. So, I think Hocevar has all the makings of a superstar. But we have got to get the hurricane down to like a tropical storm or like a cold front.”
As things stand, he is just a little bit too much for Letarte. One of the sequences that led to this opinion is the move he made on Christopher Bell in the first overtime restart. Using a push from Ross Chastain, he attempted to go for a gap that didn’t quite exist between Bell and Bubba Wallace. Bell, who he was supposed to work with, got turned into the outside wall as a result.
Kyle Petty backs the opinion of Letarte
Petty had joined Letarte on NASCAR: Inside The Race to discuss Sunday’s happenings. He, too, was sure about the idea that Hocevar had many attributes that only the biggest superstars in the sport have held in the past. He went as far as to make direct comparisons between the youngsters and the likes of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Tim Richmond.
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“He’s got the attitude of Earnhardt, dude,” Petty said. “The attitude of I don’t care. I don’t care. You run me in the grass, you do this, I don’t care. I’m going on. I’m going to make my own way. He’s got the brashness of Tim Richmond. He’s got a swagger about him. He just gets out and gets it done. And he’s got the desire to win and the passion of Kyle Busch.”
Petty does not doubt that Hocevar will become a superstar in this sport. He continued to joke that he would have his Hocevar fan club hats and t-shirts ready. The young Spire Motorsports driver is setting up tall expectations. Hopefully, a Victory Lane visit will soon come his way and satisfy this rather large crowd that seems to be waiting on its toes for him to win.
The post Steve Letarte Believes Carson Hocevar Has All the Makings of A Superstar appeared first on The SportsRush.
