Could 23-year-old NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar end up being the catalyst for change in the way NASCAR is broadcasting its races?
For years, fans and industry members have practically begged NASCAR and its broadcast partners to improve the product they’re putting out to the millions of fans watching at home.
On Tuesday, Hocevar went on a brief rant on social media (on Instagram and Facebook) in which he explained the fundamental differences between modern-day broadcasts and those of the old race he had tuned into – a 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway on ESPN.
“Everything about this is better,” the text on the Instagram story read. “The racing. The visuals. The commentary. The production. The paint schemes. The sounds.”
Hocevar continued: “TV viewership is the majority of who watched the sport. 7.489 million watched the DAYTONA 500; 150k-ish went to the DAYTONA 500. Yet, the Victory Lane isn’t prominent and is just an afterthought. You already seen them. You already heard from them. It’s not secondary or it’s just a shot as they cut away to a cornhole championship that is in the next TV time slot.”
“The majority of people watched an interview with nothing around it other than concrete on a track. Not confetti and his team splashing on him while fireworks go off and looking like it’s of importance of what they just watched.”
“Based on what I watched, they always tried to one-up their last broadcast, or the last year back in the day, or try and just make visual gains and innovation; now the bar is to cut everything they can to move their bottom line and give just enough to make it okay, and people wonder why people lose or lost interest.”
Hocevar then went to Facebook to give a more detailed explanation:
“Sitting here watching the 2000 Talladega race. It’s insane we as a sport produce the product we give to fans and wonder why fans have lost interest. This race is beautiful. The sights, the sounds, the cars, the production, the commentators,” the post says. “It’s clear as day why the sport is where it’s at and not where it once was. The entertainment value of this race is so much better and so visually more appealing.”
“Casual fans just wanna be entertained. They don’t care about aero, engine packages, downforce, drag, tire wear. They truly don’t care. They just wanna be visually entertained and feel like they’re not wasting their time watching something that’s not prestigious.”
“We’re on the ventilator and asleep at the wheel of what the real problems are. Back in the day, you can see the innovation year to year of the broadcast quality and them trying to always improve. Now it’s just cutting stuff to improve the bottom line and wondering why people lose interest or are no longer impressed. There’s nothing new. Eventually they’ve seen it all or it’s a shell of what it once was, and there’s no point in tuning in.”
Carson Hocevar has been on a meteoric rise this season – both with his on-track performance and popularity – and now, after an epic victory celebration at Talladega Superspeedway, is one of the most popular and recognizable faces in NASCAR.
So, the Spire Motorsports driver is using that to his advantage of standing for what he believes in.
After making the posts to Facebook and Instagram, and the sharing of it going viral on X, Hocevar made his own post on X:
“I love NASCAR. Never get that lost in translation of passion and criticism of itself. My number one complaint is having to convince people that it’s better in person to make someone become a fan because it’s that big of a difference. I am so over saying that line.”
