Carson Hocevar is quickly becoming one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR, with a racing style that has reminded fans of the good ol’ days of the sport. While he doesn’t seem to have friends among his peers in the Cup Series, his tactics for gaining more fans are proving to be a hit.
Amid an ongoing rivalry with fellow driver Zane Smith, which largely seems to be one-sided, Hocevar hosted a unique event ahead of last weekend’s race. He offered free T-shirts repping the No. 77 team to the first 77 fans who brought in shirts that supported active drivers for a free trade-in at his merch trailer.
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In data captured by Dirty Mo Media, Hocevar seems to have won over a ton of Chase Elliott fans. Of the 77 T-shirts that were traded in last weekend, 20 of them were for Elliott with the next-closest driver being William Byron (eight) followed by Smith and Kyle Larson (seven).
|
Driver / Team |
T-Shirts |
|
Chase Elliott |
20 |
|
William Byron |
8 |
|
Zane Smith |
7 |
|
Kyle Larson |
7 |
|
Chris Buescher |
4 |
|
Christopher Bell |
3 |
|
Alex Bowman |
3 |
|
Ryan Blaney |
3 |
|
Noah Gragson |
3 |
|
Front Row |
2 |
|
Joey Logano |
2 |
|
Bubba Wallace |
2 |
|
SVG |
2 |
|
Ross Chastain |
2 |
|
JR Motorsports |
1 |
|
23XI Racing |
1 |
|
Trackhouse |
1 |
|
Ty Gibbs |
1 |
|
Connor Zilisch |
1 |
|
Erik Jones |
1 |
|
Jimmie Johnson |
1 |
|
Ricky Stenhouse Jr |
1 |
|
Denny Hamlin |
1 |
Smith and the No. 38 team shouldn’t see it as a total loss. After all, some footage from the T-shirt swaps at the No. 77 hauler last weekend at EchoPark Speedway showed that several of the No. 38 shirts were still in their original wrapping. So, at the very least, Smith picked up a few additional merchandise sales.
Hocevar’s popularity certainly isn’t as high among Cup Series drivers, especially based on the myriad of statements made on the Racin’ With The Boys podcast in recent weeks from the likes of Smith, Larson and Bubba Wallace.
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Right now, that doesn’t really matter. Hocevar is on his way to becoming one of the most popular figures in all of racing, and he is still just 23 years old. As he brings more fans to the sport from his increasing popularity off the track, we might only be a few years away from Hocevar one day being voted the most popular driver in NASCAR.
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