Dale Earnhardt Jr. rips Carson Hocevar, then defends him

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had some interesting things to say about Carson Hocevar on his podcast this week. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt ripped Hocevar for calling Layne Riggs a “kid.”

“Riggs is older than him,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “Is he self-appointing himself some sort of veteran? Y’all heard that s**t. ‘Man, that kid’s gonna win a lot of races.’ What the f**k dude? You’re a kid. That was a very egotistical move. I think it’s an asinine way to look at things. …I know that Riggs is not in Cup, but in terms of ability, talent, I don’t really set them too far apart. You could put Riggs in the 77 (car) and eventually get reasonable results.”

While Earnhardt didn’t like Carson Hocevar calling Layne Riggs a “kid,” he didn’t mind Hocevar not owning up to giving Riggs the middle finger during the Truck Series race at Kansas this past weekend.

“I didn’t mind that he didn’t own it,” Earnhardt said. “…I know that he by owning it has opened himself up to some sort of retaliation from NASCAR, and NASCAR is reactive. If he owns it, and there’s a big backlash on social media, NASCAR then reacts to that.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares more thoughts on Carson Hocevar

Earnhardt then said he didn’t blame Hocevar for flipping Riggs off. “Layne Riggs goes down into Turn 1. He’s underneath Hocevar, wrecked them both. The f***ing wall saved Hocevar,” Earnhardt said. “…How much talent does that take to go down in the corner, drive up the racetrack into the guy’s left-rear corner panel, damn near wreck both of you. I’d have flipped his ass off too.”

Hocevar has earned two top-10 finishes in the Cup Series this season, including a second-place finish at Atlanta. Dale Jr. Download co-host TJ Majors wants Hocevar to have more consistency when it comes to finishing races strong, but Earnhardt said that will take time.

“Most people are 22-year-old 22-year-olds, and they’re going to f**k up,” Earnhardt said. They’re going to act like that, and it’s going to be too big for them, and the’re going to f**k up a lot. If you can be patient with a guy like Hocevar, the 26-year-old Hocevar will be the driver that you want him to be.”