NASCAR's Carson Hocevar dismisses drama and fears ahead of The Chase

Monday Morning Pit-Stop lives on OutKick.com and Fox News Digital as a weekly NASCAR column. If you prefer a standard recap, head over to ESPN ... assuming they still know what NASCAR is these days.

Carson Hocevar told me last week he expected no drama in The Chase. I asked him straight up if he felt enemies on the track or like he was driving with a target on his back. This question followed months of NASCAR drama, all ending with his relationship with a TikTok influencer who began ruffling feathers around the garage.

I think it helps TV and merch sales sometimes, but not so much, Hocevar said when I asked about other drivers coming after him. You know, people tried to wreck me lately and just ended up wrecking themselves. So I don't see anybody wanting to do something that would make me really worry. Yeah, I'm not really worried about it.

Carson, buddy, it is time to start worrying. If your head wasn't spinning before Darlington, it has to be now.

Welcome to a Labor Day edition of Monday Morning Pit-Stop! We keep this one brief today because A) it is a holiday, B) it is a holiday, and C) I have meat to smoke ... because it is a holiday.

We dive into Carson's antics last night at Darlington in just a minute. We will also cover Ryan Blaney putting another few dollars in NASCAR's new Swear Jar, Dale Jarrett getting a nice Sunday night wakeup call, and Hooters Gianna Blaney giving us one final summer photo dump from the pool.

And what a summer it was! Four tires, enough fuel to get us to Gateway, and maybe some Secret Service protection for Carson ... Monday Morning Pit-Stop, the Watch Out, Carson edition, is LIVE!

Let's just jump right in.

I won't break down the race. It is a holiday, and the finish was relatively meh. Christopher Bell finally won after seven runner-ups this season. Denny Hamlin was surprisingly bad but still grabbed stage points to maintain his point lead after the first Chase race. The Toyotas continue to dominate, followed by the Fords, then the Chevys. Kyle Larson led a bunch of laps early, but you knew it was only time before a Toyota took over.

OK, are we caught up? Good! Now let's check in with Carson and Brad Keselowski.

When entertainment crosses a line. Thoughts? First impressions?

First off, Brad didn't just spin as Hocevar says with a s-t grin on his face 14 times. That is obviously false. Hocevar washed up the track and got into Brad, which caused the spin.

Here is where I veer from the rest of the pitchfork crowd today ... He barely tapped him, and I mean barely. You have to squint to see it. If anything, he just got Brad loose enough to spin him out. I don't think it was intentional. I think it was a mistake on Carson's part, and he is too embarrassed or proud to admit it.

His day is coming and it is coming hard. Watch out, Carson.

You do not hear Brad Keselowski talk like that often, not this version of Brad, at least. He was hot, and I get it. At some point over the next few weeks, he will end Carson Hocevar's day. This sport polices itself, and you will see it unfold.

Now the question becomes ... is this good for NASCAR? Of course it is. It is great for NASCAR. The series desperately needs a villain, and they have one in Carson Hocevar. He is also an extremely popular villain because he leads the series in merchandise sales right now.

Hocevar talked to me a lot last week about the state of the sport. He even compared it, to a degree, to WWE. They don't understand the new guys, Hocevar said when asked about balancing old and new NASCAR fans.

This guy is popular, and I don't understand why." A lot of my friends love WWE and all the intricacies of that world. But the casuals are like, "Man, I loved Stone Cold when he walked out. I never even watched him wrestle, but I liked him, and the Undertaker and their shticks." It's very similar to how NASCAR fans describe everything and become negative to everything. A lot of times, they're not sure what they're looking for. Brad Keselowski's RFK racing team posted that on social media if you were wondering how the garage felt about Carson Hocevar. They hate him. By the way, they also hated Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski back in the day. I can remember a time when those two were HATED. Kyle especially.

Carson Hocevar is young and stupid. He's got a hot TikTok influencer girlfriend. He was just told he's the most popular driver on the circuit. He won at Talladega earlier this year, and he's in the Chase. He's good for NASCAR. He also needs some humbling. Both things can be true. Amazing. The kid doesn't care. Can't wait to see the fight in a few weeks! OK, let's put the pedal to the floor and get on outta here ... it's a HOLIDAY.

First up? NASCAR has a new initiative where they are going to put $5 in a swear jar over these next 10 weeks every time a driver cusses over the radio. That's A LOT, by the way. These guys are disgusting over the radio in the heat of battle. Trust me. Anyway, if you can guess how much money is in the jar by the end, you, apparently, get ALL of it! Hat's off to NASCAR. I give them a bunch of crap (rightfully so), but this is a smart promotion. Perhaps they took a page out of Carson's WWE playbook?

Also ... what a liner there from Angry Ryan Blaney! "Christ, it's f, ing plowing my d–k off." That's $10, by my count! Next? Let's check in with Dale Jarrett on the way out: Amazing. That gif, I assume, will get some good play this football season. It's not often that 40 stock cars can sneak up on you, but Dale was genuinely taken aback here. No clue what he was doing, but I'm glad the cameras were rolling. Well done.

OK, that's it for today. Some solid laboring on Labor Day, everyone. Let's go have a big week. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP Take us into it, Gianna Blaney!