Kyle Petty Declared Carson Hocevar Is Racing “Exactly” Like Dale Earnhardt

Ex-NASCAR Cup Series racer Kyle Petty has given his verdict on claims that Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar is racing like Dale Earnhardt.

Kyle Petty Declared Carson Hocevar Is Racing “Exactly” Like Dale Earnhardt

Carson Hocevar, Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt (Via IMAGO)

The 2025 NASCAR Cup season has proved already that Carson Hocevar has what it takes in him to be a championship contender. He has secured P2 finishes in the last two races, Charlote and Nashville, showing he is close to securing the maiden win. But one major issue during all these solid runs has been his run-ins on the track.

Carson Hocevar had clashes with multiple drivers in the last two weekends and his cold responses to the backlashes shows he is ready to ruffle the feathers regardless of the rival’s legacy. One driver that became immensely successful doing the exact same from his debut race is Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, even the seven times champions’ son Dale Earnhardt Jr. sees this comparison.

In his post-race analyses for PRN’s YouTube channel, ex-racer Kyle Petty who has raced with Dale Sr. in the top tier, talked about the criticism of Hocevar and asserted that the same people calling out Hocevar, is hailing Dale Sr. for doing the same. He seems to be highlighting the massive hypocrisy from a set of people in the stock car racing community.

I find it fascinating that I’m watching Amazon and they’re complaining about how Carson drives and… which is exactly what Earnhardt did.

Kyle Petty said via Fast Talk on the Performance Racing Network.

Further talking about the topic, Petty highlighted that how Earnhardt introduced superior roughness and gruffness, mixed with raw talent to the sport, which forced NASCAR racing to evolve to its great years. The veteran believes the that’s exactly what Hocevar is doing right now, as he is forcing the front-runners of the sports to change their style.

He came in with his roughness and gruffness and his raw talent and he changed the sport. And that’s what Carson’s doing in a certain way, is he’s changing that top group of drivers on how they’re going to have to race.’

Kyle Petty added.

Kyle Petty takes a hilarious dig at NASCAR drivers and racers in general

In the same conversation, Petty detailed his feelings about the NASCAR driver or racing drivers always complaining about things. He admitted that race cars drivers are born with whining genes and they always complain more, when they are wronged, they won’t keep their mouth shut and will refuse to take blame when they are in the wrong.

Carson Hocevar and Kyle Petty
Carson Hocevar and Kyle Petty (Via @CarsonHocevar/X and IMAGO)

They whine about it a little bit. If you drive a race car, when God sends you to Earth and he says, ‘You’re going to be a race car driver, here’s the whine gene, okay.’ You get the whine gene and you get it in a mega dose because you’re going to whine about everything that somebody else does, but not about you.

Kyle Petty said.

The comments from Petty aren’t just criticism, but it is coming from self-realization as well, as the veteran has been part of similar incident in the past, which has caused beefs he still has with some of his NASCAR rivals. It would be interesting to see how the stock car racing community, is going respond to Hocevar if his aggressive racing continues.

Also Read: Carson Hocevar Breaks Silence on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Threat over Nashville Clash