Tommy Baldwin Blasts Carson Hocevar for “Driving Like a Lunatic”

The NASCAR race on last Sunday saw Carson Hocevar causing more drama with his aggressive racing style. He pulled off some edgy moves early in the race and on lap 31 was wrecked by No:38 driver Zane Smith, who had enough off the antics and decided to take revenge, running both of their races. While the critics are directing the heat towards the FRM racer, Tommy Baldwin Jr. has a bold take.

In the latest episode of his podcast, the former Team Owner pointed out that Hocevar is equally to blame for the incident as Smith. The No:77 Chevy was driving two aggressively at the start of the race, making contact with everyone racing beside him and caused the drama, as there is limit to how much patient drivers can be amidst such incidents.

Look, I hate talking about the 77. I really do…Because he’s driving like a f****** lunatic in the beginning of the race, man, just bouncing off everybody, moving everybody. They’ve had enough. I’m telling you, they’ve had enough. And even his post, right? He’s like, ‘Well, we didn’t qualify very good. I hope we run good.’

Tommy Baldwin Jr. said on his podcast.

The former star Crew Chief was really not happy to talk about young Carson Hocevar and his latest antics. He highlighted how the Spire Motorsports driver isn’t making the wise calls by being aggressive from lap one of the races, as his actions is only damaging the car, depriving them having a solid result.

I mean, by the time lap 30, there’s nothing left of his car to go fast. It’s like, all right, the 38 got into him, and obviously it ruined the 38’s night. He didn’t run very good after that, and they’ve been good all year. So, it’s just like people are tired of it, man.

Tommy Baldwin Jr. added via Door Bumper Clear podcast.

Further talking about the point, Tommy Baldwin Jr. asserted that career wise Hocevar is in a safer spot that many in the sport and he needs to take advantage of it by becoming a better racer instead of being a desperate racer. He has the opportunity become a NASCAR superstar, but for he needs to be more than just an aggressive driver.

Hocevar, he’s in a safe spot. He has a chance to drive for that team forever or somebody even – I mean, they’re pretty big right now. But I don’t know. I just don’t get it, man… Oh, yeah, because the people around him love it. And the fans love it. Yeah, it’s all that matters. But he can be better. He could be better.

Tommy Baldwin Jr. asserted.

Ward Burton responds to Tommy Baldwin’s Carson Hocevar take

Former racer Ward Burton, who was the guest on the podcast, also shared his thoughts on the young Chevy driver. He pointed out that Hocevar was like the racers in the 2000s that was nicknamed “weapons” owing to their aggressive style. They raced too hard from lap one, forgetting the fact that winning the event is a long-game and can’t be done with unnecessary early moves.

We used to call them weapons. And I’m not going to say any names, but you know exactly who the hell I’m talking about. There were three or four of them back in – I mean, you just – You either followed them or you passed them. You didn’t run side by side. Because it’s just – It’s almost like when they put that helmet on, they get vaporized. You know, hell, we’ve all been there. You can’t win on the first lap, and you’ve got to run all the laps.

Ward Burton said.

The comments from the former racer are on point and shows how the whole racing community wants to see Hocevar being a more respectful driver, who wins more often. It would be interesting to see how the young racer is going to respond to the latest set of criticism in the upcoming race weeks of the 2026 season.

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