Ryan Blaney Declares Carson Hocevar Doesn’t Have “Change Who He Is” Amidst Backlash Over Aggressive Racing

Team Penske Racing’s 2023 Champion Ryan Blaney has given his verdict on the backlash Carson Hocevar is facing after Nashville.

Ryan Blaney Declares Carson Hocevar Doesn’t Have “Change Who He Is” Amidst Backlash Over Aggressive Racing

Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney (Via IMAGO)

The biggest controversy in the NASCAR community at the moment, aside from the 23XI-FRM lawsuit, is Carson Hocevar’s racing style. The young Spire Motorsports driver attracted the lime-light for the wrong reasons the last two weekends owing to his over aggressive racing style. Now the 2023 Champion and last weekend’s winner Ryan Blaney has addressed the situation.

The Team Penske driver, in his pre-race interview session at Michigan Motor Speedway, talked about how young drivers evolve in NASCAR from aggressive drivers to respectful racers. In the same conversation Ryan Blaney also talked about how his father Dave Blaney molded him into a better driver by teaching him how to control aggression before imparting some wisdom on Carson Hocevar.

He pointed out that, despite the backlash, the 2024 Rookie of The Year winner should be given some space as the almost all drivers in the current grid were aggressive drivers when they first entered the sport. With experience, they learned to be more respectful and take calculated risk. Driver like Denny Hamlin, who has been through same situation, should give Hocevar that space to grow.

So, I mean, hey, he’s a young guy, all of us have been young, we’ve all been aggressive, everyone has a heavy right foot when they get going. And that’s good, I think he’s a very, very talented race car driver. He’s one of the best guys out there. It’s hard to teach speed, I think it’s just he has to refine a little bit what he does.

Ryan Blaney said at Michigan pre-race interview.

Further talking about the point, the No:12 Ford Mustang driver asserted that Carson Hocevar doesn’t have to change his racing style, as it has bene the cornerstone of his success so far. But he urged the youngster to learn from his mistake and doesn’t have any criticisms about the racer, as he doesn’t like to call out any drivers.

I don’t think he has to change who he is because this is what’s got him here, but I think he’s gotta possibly think of some situations that he’s been in and just try to learn from them, and that’s all you can do. So, I don’t really critique anybody, I’m not critiquing him at all.

Ryan Blaney added.

Ryan Blaney isn’t a fan of the aggressive racing

In the same conversation, Blaney shared his thoughts about the aggressive style of racing from the drivers and admitted that he hates getting involved in situation where drivers are getting spun out. He recalled getting turned at Atlanta and how it ruined his race, while urging drivers to be better decision makers on the track.

14. Ryan Blaney
14. Ryan Blaney (Via IMAGO)

That’s just kind of my stance on it, you know, when guys keep spinning off the front of your bumper, that becomes an issue. And you know, I just am not a huge fan of that. I’ve been a part of it, I got turned at Atlanta getting run into from behind, and it’s like, how many times you gonna keep doing this until you learn? So, we’ll see.

Ryan Blaney said.

The real advice the champion has given to the veteran driver is not to be less aggressive but be calculative about it. He wants the youngster to learn racing with his mind, instead of racing emotionally. It would be interesting to see how Carson Hocevar is going to respond to the backlash and advice.

Also Read: Ryan Blaney Reveals His Father Dave Blaney ‘Chewed His a*S out’ for Over Aggressive Racing in His Junior Years