Carson Hocevar’s first win in 91 Cup Series races, that too at the iconic Talladega Speedway, is a reminder that some wins and some bonds are meant to be cherished. And that's what happened at his post-race conference when he got a surprise congratulatory call from his friend and YouTuber Cleetus McFarland.

McFarland's call was played aloud as he said, “Brother, I’m so proud of you. Dude, you drive that thing to the front every weekend, and I knew it was coming; I knew you were going to do it. You drove your tail off, and we’re all so proud of you. Great job.”

Hocevar thanked him before asking, “I hope you were jumping on the wall, or wherever the h*** you were, I hope you were jumping up like I was yesterday.”

During McFarland's ARCA Menards Series race on Saturday, where he finished runner-up, Hocevar was seen jumping and animatedly cheering for him from the frontstretch. After the race, he met him personally and said, "You might actually win one of these."

And he repeated the same on the call with McFarland, “You’re going to win one soon.”

Hocevar, who fans think was long overdue for a race win, finally broke the shackles at Dega after a 26-car Big One ensured the grid order flipped on its head, leaving everyone unsure of who would win. With a big push by Alex Bowman, Hocevar got his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet over the line just ahead of  RFK’s Chris Buescher.

Like his race win, what equally delighted fans and the garage was his post-race celebration. He did a few doughnuts before deciding to hang outside the window and wave at fans while driving his car simultaneously.

Somewhere along the way, he slowly crashed his car into the wall before pulling out a picture-perfect burnout as he hung out the window with both his hands up in the air, with smoke filling the background.

Hocevar Draws Celebration Inspo from LeMullets

McFarland and Hocevar’s friendship goes way back, with the Spire driver being a regular on McFarland’s podcast as an expert, as well as the two spending time on track together at McFarland’s LeMullets, where they race and perform stunts together.

The celebration, clearly a daring stunt, got its recognition too during the call with McFarland, saying. “I was screaming, and then the burnout!! Immaculate brother, Immaculate.”

The moment McFarland mentioned the burnout, it seemed like Hocevar had a light bulb moment, realizing where he remembered it from. 

In 2025, during the 2.4 hours of LeMullets, Hocevar, and McFarland came together as teammates to win and put on some crazy celebrations. 

Hocevar recalled that race and said, “I just realized, I literally did this celebration, riding on the door at LeMullets. That's where I thought of it.”

With the first win in the bag, will the shackles be off from here for Hocevar, whose aggressive driving style has often drawn comparisons to the early days of the legendary Dale Earnhardt?

Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason