Alright NASCAR fans, brace yourself for an exciting twist in the racing world. It wasn’t a pit stop controversy or a blown tire on the track, hell it wasn’t even on the track. It happened off the track in the realm of social media. Forget a race update or some track news, NASCAR just dropped a social media bombshell that has left everyone buzzed up, all hard-core fans, the casual watchers, and even those who are not fans of NASCAR are talking about it.
NASCAR is a name that is synonymous with action and thrill but in the world of video games only one name comes to mind when talking about action and thrill, Grand Theft Auto (GTA). It was a matter of time before the two worlds collided, and collide they did, and it was amazing.
And in today’s world, where the new GTA VI is almost a whispered legend, NASCAR and Carson Hocevar delivered a taste of the chaos that GTA is famous for. Before the race at Homestead-Miami, Carson Hocevar and NASCAR released a GTA-style video, that has got the whole world buzzing over it.
In the video, Carson Hocevar was on a GTA mission-like quest to get to the Homestead race track for his race. It wasn’t just a normal video, it was a full-on cinematic experience. It had everything, style, action, and thrill with cinematic nods to both the NASCAR and GTA worlds. Hocevar was the classic GTA wardrobe, as he started his GTA-like quest to reclaim his race suit and custom design helmet for the race at Homestead.
we seriously got this edit before … pic.twitter.com/wMbWlD2WF8
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 23, 2025
As Hocevar reclaimed his firesuit and helmet, he then went on a GTA-themed POV ride in the Corvette Stingray to get to the Homestead-Miami Raceway where he got into his number 77 yellow and black Chevrolet ZL1, that he drives for Spire Motorsports. Fans, as expected were amazed and filled the posts with praise and expressed their disbelief on this crossover.
Fans love the NASCAR and GTA Crossover
Hocevar’s team, Spire Motorsports was quick to express their disbelief on this video with a sweet and simple comment, “”. Expressing their views and everyone else’s in the universal symbol of pure shock and awe. Xfinity Series driver Garrett Smithley, who drives for BRK Racing, and is known to always keep it real, commented summarizing the video with, “Oh @nascar cooooookeddddd ” And that’s the truth, NASCAR and Hocevar, did indeed, as they say, ‘cooked’ with the video, tapping in both the racing and gaming worlds.
The Money Lap Podcast, which is hosted by NASCAR drivers Landon Cassill and Parker Kligerman commented, “We got a NASCAR race promo in GTA style before GTA 6 .” Their podcast which is known for their unfiltered opinions and deep insights delivered another one with their comments as they pointed out the fact and also made the trending joke on GTA VI in one go.
NASCAR in today’s world believes that adapting its digital approach will be key to growing itself on social media, and fans are seeing their efforts. “Social media team is on a heater this year,” a fan commented acknowledging that NASCAR and its new social media approach are working wonders as they try to copy and learn from Formula 1’s social media model’s success.
And it’s not only NASCAR that fans were appreciating in this masterclass of a video, fans were also appreciating Hocevar, with one fan commenting, “Hocevar carrying NASCAR ”. The Spire Motorsports driver is well known for his social media genius with his regular top-quality social media posts and comments, and he just delivered another that will be talked about for a long time in the future.
The future looks bright. NASCAR’s social media presence will not only be excellent, but it may surpass the finest in motorsports if it keeps up this momentum. And what’s next for NASCAR? If they can pull off a GTA-style video of this amazing quality, what else is in store for the future?
The post ‘NASCAR Cooked’: Fans Run Wild as NASCAR’s New GTA Tribute Leaves Everyone Raving appeared first on EssentiallySports.