We’ve seen some great NASCAR rivalries throughout the years. Rivalries that in some cases defined and shaped eras: King Richard Petty vs. David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip vs. Cale Yarborough and Dale Earnhardt vs. Jeff Gordon.
In more recent times, we’ve seen Kyle Busch vs. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano vs. Matt Kenseth (although I’d argue Kenseth and the Martinsville turn 1 fence took care of matters there), Denny Hamlin vs. Ross Chastain, Hamlin vs. Logano, and the list goes on.
Outside of NASCAR, we’ve seen plenty of great rivalries in other top echelon sports: Ayrton Senna vs. Alain Prost, Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi, Bjorn Borg vs. John McEnroe and Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, to name but a few. Rivalries work. They make news. They give us one side (or the other) to root for. They keep us interested.
And looking at social media, and listening to the resultant hype, of late it seems like we might just have found our next big NASCAR rivalry: Corey Heim vs. Carson Hocevar.
But have we? I’m not quite so sure. Let’s review.
Heim and Hocevar were both identified early as future stars early in their racing careers. While their paths crossed in lower level developmental series, and then in the ARCA Menards Series, it was not until they reached the then-Craftsman Truck Series level that hostilities truly ignited, specifically the title race at Phoenix Raceway in 2023.
For Hocevar, it was a breakout season. Not without controversy or incident of course, how could it be? The Michigan native won four times, a series best, in his third full season, with 11 top fives, 13 top 10s and an average finish of 11.6. Fine statistics, certainly, but not as good as Heim’s, which is where a pattern perhaps starts to emerge.
Heim’s 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season was the very model of consistency. He won three times with 11 top fives and a remarkable 19 top 10s in 22 races (he missed one race through illness), with an average finish of 6.8. Heim also won the regular season championship.
Coming into the playoffs, most observers expected the battle for the title to be between our two protagonists and even more so once we reached the final race in the desert. Hocevar had won the week prior, at Talladega Superspeedway, and the view at the outset of the Chase from the pundits remained. Hocevar or Heim — who would get it done with it all on the line?
With 32 scheduled laps to run, Heim got past Hocevar to take the lead among the Championship 4, but two laps later, an ill advised lunge saw Hocevar spin out Heim, as well as, unfortunately, Stewart Friesen. Then, with time running out and just three laps left, and essentially out of the running, Heim took his chance at revenge by putting Hocevar into the wall and taking him out of the race for good.
Post-race, Hocevar appeared extremely remorseful.
Meanwhile, Heim basically laid the blame on Hocevar for the first incident.
NASCAR doled out a $12,500 fine and docked Heim 25 driver points for the second wreck.
When Hocevar moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024, Heim remained in the Truck Series. He won a title in 2025 with a 12-win season for the ages, so they did not see each other so much on track these past couple years. Fast forward to this season and we’ve seen a pair of incidents with Heim running a part-time schedule in the Cup Series.
The first flashpoint came at the Naval Base Coronado, a race won by Heim. The two wheelmen clashed late in the running with Heim all over Hocevar for position. The result was Heim spinning Hocevar. Later, he responded to fans of Hocevar on social media who had voiced their objections post-race with Carson’s own words.
“Well, just get the (expletive) out of the way, and there wouldn’t be a wreck. You know what I mean? Just move.”
On the Dale Jr. Download podcast after San Diego, Hocevar, sitting in as host for the week, responded.
“I felt like that was four years coming-ish, and I was like, ‘All right, fair,’” Hocevar said. More quite good natured banter followed on X with the two drivers plugging their sponsors.
At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, another race Heim won, the beef continued when Hocevar gave Heim the bird as the 23XI Racing driver pitted, feeling that Heim had held him up. Hocevar explained his actions after the race to Dustin Long.
“I’m just a fan, wanted to wave at him,” Hocevar said. “He’s No. 1, he won. It’s fun, we don’t like each other, but we race really hard, and his stuff is super fast, obviously with the car he’s in — he does a really good job with it. I’m looking forward to when we get our stuff a little better, being in front of him and, you know, maybe holding him up.”
Heim, talking in the media center after the win, explained his side of things.
“I was blocking him, not really too bad I thought,” Heim said. “I mean, I was trying to just hold my position and I never threw, like, a bad block. I was just trying to protect my entry, and he didn’t like it. But he lost and I won, so I don’t really care.”
When asked what he thought of the rivalry, he had a really witty response, asking first where Hocevar finished before continuing.
“You guys love talking about a guy who finished ninth,” Heim said. “I mean, holy crap.”
So is this NASCAR’s next great rivalry? As I said, I’m not so sure.
While we’ve established there is some “previous,” I honestly don’t think it will continue. While Hocevar is clearly a talented racecar driver, Heim looks to be a generational talent. With two wins in his 15 Cup starts and a full-time berth in 2026, I would expect Heim to win and to keep winning. Hocevar, on the other hand, has one win and just eight top fives in 103 attempts. He’ll win a bunch, but at the same clip as Heim? We’ll see.
And that’s ultimately why I’m not ready to call this NASCAR’s next great rivalry. To date, the flashpoints have been entertaining, the social media barbs are extremely funny and neither driver seems willing to give the other an inch.
Yet great rivalries aren’t built on middle fingers and hurt feelings. They’re built on championships, race wins and two drivers repeatedly denying each other the biggest prizes in the sport. Could Heim vs. Hocevar become that? Absolutely. All the right elements are in place: history, personality, mutual respect with a side of genuine dislike, and two drivers who race hard.
But before we start mentioning them alongside the great NASCAR rivalries, let’s see them race each other at the front of the field for a few full seasons. If that happens, we’ll have a rivalry worth remembering. Right now, though, we’re simply reading the first chapter.
Is this NASCAR’s next great rivalry? Not yet.
Danny Peters has written for Frontstretch since 2006. An English transplant living in San Francisco, by way of New York City, he’s had an award-winning marketing career with some of the biggest companies sponsoring sports. Working with racers all over the country, his freelance writing has even reached outside the world of racing to include movie screenplays.
I hope their rivalry includes them stuffing each other’s car up against the wall on numerous occasions.