"The sport needs personalities": Dale Earnhardt Jr. likens under-fire NASCAR youngster with Ross Chastain amid Atlanta controversy

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared his opinion on the controversy surrounding Carson Hocevar following the Atlanta race. The Spire Motorsports driver was confronted by Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain after the race on Sunday, owing to his aggressive driving on the track.

At one point during the race, Hocevar received an expletive-filled earful from Kyle Busch as well. This was something Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacted to on the recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download.

Dale Jr. mentioned that a lot of people commented on Hocevar and that he made names like Blaney and Chastain upset. Having said that, the NASCAR Hall of Famer looked at the other side of this subject.

"This is the thing. The sport needs personalities, it needs things that stand out, it needs drivers that we can depend on to kind of go against the norms, and we had that in Ross Chastain. We had that in other drivers as well. They improved, the polished the rough edges, they become more well rounded, complete racecar drivers. Ross has changed a lot as a racecar driver. He doesn't put himself in situations that are upsetting other drivers as often or if at all anymore. He's still one of the most aggressive defenders of his position in the field," Earnhardt described. [30:55 onwards]

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver remarked that given the skills Chastain 'always possessed', he doesn't make much noise anymore. According to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hocevar has 'the same thing', which may be a little bit more in his case compared to Chastain.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. comments on Carson Hocevar's personality

Dale Earnhardt Jr during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway - Source: Imagn

Speaking further about Carson Hocevar, Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed that the young driver would simply have to 'own this' and understand he'd be the target of the noise for a bit. The NASCAR icon touched on his own philosophy of believing the best in people and extended the same toward Hocevar.

"I think he actually is a good person. He's not a brat or a little punk. When he's driving a racecar he may get a punky, a little bratty, but so does Logano, and some other people. They change a little bit when they're between being in the car and out the car, the personality changes, they race differently than you would expect how they act off the track," Earnhardt said. [32:55 onwards]

The JR Motorsports co-owner likened this aspect of Hocevar's personality to three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano. He said that Logano, while he's great with the media, is a 'completely different person' on the racetrack.

Earnhardt remarked that Hocevar has shown speed and overachieved so far in his time in the Cup Series. He claimed that as long as the Spire Motorsports driver continues to impress on the track, he'd have 'a little bit of a longer leash' regarding making mistakes on the track.

Having said that, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that the problem with Carson Hocevar is his past and his incidents of wrecking other drivers on purpose in the Truck Series. In Junior's view, this left a bad look for Hocevar.