“If You’re Going to Say It, Do It”: Dale Jr. Pokes the Bear Over Keselowski’s Hocevar Payback Threat

Carson Hocevar has one coming. This is the sentiment across the Cup Series garage after he tangled with Brad Keselowski at Darlington Raceway last weekend. The RFK Racing driver was fuming after the race and sent a warning to Hocevar: “His day’s coming, and it’s coming hard. Watch out, Carson.”

But is he going to wreck the Spire Motorsports driver in the upcoming races? Dale Jr. doesn’t think he will.

“If you’re gonna say it, go do it. I’m not picking on Brad, but I’m just saying, how many times have we heard drivers say, ‘Well, it’s going to come back on him. It’s gonna be tough on him down the road?’” Dale Jr. said on his podcast. TJ Majors, who was Keselowski’s spotter at Darlington, made it a point that a comeback is around the corner for Hocevar. To which Jr. replied, “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

Race car drivers can get emotional after a bad crash or a disappointing result on the track, especially when two drivers tangle with each other. But despite the big talk, they don’t always go on to wreck their rival for payback. At least with Hocevar, that has been the case. Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, Corey Heim, and even Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have all been tormented by Hocevar, but none of them have retaliated.

Yet, Dale Jr. felt that Hocevar was being carried away by all the merchandise sales hype and social media banter. He went on to reveal the conversation he’s been having with the Spire Motorsports driver.

“He’s kinda been given a little bit of a playbook on how to turn everything into a T-shirt, and he’s not gonna let off the gas on that. He’s gonna keep doing this thing. Like when he gets out of the car, he’s going to do what he thinks he needs to do to sort of stir the pot. He doesn’t want to sit down with Brad and talk it out,” Jr. added.

What’s more interesting is that the 23-year-old was pretty chill knowing that Keselowski had issued a threat against him. He replied, “I’ll tighten my belt.”

The RFK Racing social media team got in on the act, and they shared a sarcastic post on X after the on-track incident with Keselowski: “Caution involving self-proclaimed iPad kid and BK.” Well, Hocevar wasn’t going to let this slide.

Hocevar had already announced that he would put his merchandise on sale depending on where he finished in the crown jewel race. If he placed outside the top 30, it would have been 77% off as a “punishment.” Otherwise, the discount was based on how many positions he gained after starting 34th.

But in the aftermath of the Brad Keselowski drama, he increased the discount from 23% to 29%. The additional six percent discount was a direct response to RFK Racing’s social media jab. And this paid off big time for the Spire Motorsports driver. 

Sports Business Journal reported that Hocevar’s merchandise store reached nearly $200,000 in sales 24 hours after the Southern 500. Call it manufactured drama or controversy, but Carson Hocevar is becoming the real winner, and he keeps adding more relevance to his name, even when he’s not winning races.

But not everybody is riding the Hurricane Hocevar hype train. Denny Hamlin, who’s managed to keep himself away from any controversy involving Hocevar, finally broke his silence.

“There’s no adults in the room, clearly, in that building. No adults. That’s my opinion. Because how can you honestly think that that’s what is best for your company if you’re running a serious organization? I think they’re unserious.”

This saga takes one turn after another, and whether or not Brad Keselowski stays true to his words remains to be seen.

The post “If You’re Going to Say It, Do It”: Dale Jr. Pokes the Bear Over Keselowski’s Hocevar Payback Threat appeared first on EssentiallySports.