“Road courses are not one of my strengths”: NASCAR driver makes honest admission as he hands off his ride to Carson Hocevar for COTA

Next weekend at COTA, Carson Hocevar will be seen behind the wheel twice. Besides his responsibilities at the Cup level, the Spire Motorsports driver has been tabbed to wheel the No. 14 entry for SS GreenLight Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Garrett Smithley, the original driver of the No. 14 machine, recently took to X and revealed the reason behind the shakeup. COTA is a road course and according to Smithley, running on road courses is not his forte.

Reflecting on the same, the 32-year-old said:

“I have made the decision to step out of the No. 14 car. We have the opportunity to put Carson Hocevar in the car. He's driven for Bobby Dotter (owner) before, qualified 13th at COTA, made his Xfinity debut there, and did a very good job there...so we decided to put him in the car.”

“Xfinity racing is incredibly competitive; it's more competitive than it has ever been and I've been running long enough to know my strengths and weaknesses. Road courses are not one of my strengths,” he added with a smile.

In his handful of appearances in NASCAR’s road course races, Carson Hocevar has been quite competitive, with his best performance of P3 coming at Watkins Glen on September 15, 2024. Hocevar’s sole run at COTA brought him a 22nd-place finish in his No. 77 car but he did lead 68 laps on the way.

The Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 will be held on Saturday, March 1. Fans can watch it live on CW or listen to radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Smithley will be back in his ride for the GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway scheduled for the following week.

Carson Hocevar receives a word of advice from NASCAR Cup Series regular Denny Hamlin

Carson Hocevar became a hot topic after last Sunday’s (February 23) Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Several fans believe he was overtly aggressive throughout the 260-lap event marred by 11 cautions.

For Denny Hamlin, being aggressive is not sacrilege; he is a competitive driver himself and in NASCAR, aggression is indeed a necessary evil. But it is also important to be humble while addressing one’s antics following the race.

“If I had one word of advice and it’d be tough coming from me because I’m the one that likes to fuel my feud with the fans at times, it’s that you’re fueling the fire,” Hamlin explained. “If you do run into someone or you do someone wrong on the track it’s probably best to then be humble publicly.”

Carson Hocevar did apologize to Kyle Larson and Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick for trying to get into a tough spot between the 2021 Cup Series champion and race winner Christopher Bell. He also sorted it out with fellow racers Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain, the details of which haven’t been disclosed yet.