Derek Jeter or not, NASCAR rookie Carson Hocevar has been a race fan from the start

Even in the presence of one of the greatest players in baseball history, it was a NASCAR item that caught the eye of a young Carson Hocevar.

Hocevar grew up in Portage, Mich., roughly a 10-minute drive south of Kalamazoo — the town that produced Derek Jeter — and Hocevar’s father knew the first-ballot Hall of Fame shortstop well.

In 2009, Jeter had the Hocevar family out at a dinner for his foundation held in New York City, where a Dale Jarrett fire suit was on display as part of a silent auction.

Just 6 years old at the time, Hocevar didn’t fully grasp the concept and just blurted out the biggest number he could think of.

Jeter’s sister, Sharlee, made sure Hocevar got that suit. As the other attendees — “I mean, New York, Derek Jeter, basically owned the town,” Hocevar said — made bids for that replica Dale Jarrett racing suit Sharlee Jeter stood in front of the table and actually turned some people away.

It was a memorable moment for Hocevar, who will have Cal Ripken Sr.’s foundation emblazoned on the hood of his Chevy on Sunday at Bristol. And it’s not his only childhood memory with Jeter — who encouraged Hocevar to try his hand at baseball.

“I was more in to racing,” Hocevar told The Observer. “I tried baseball, and Derek always gave my dad a hard time. He’s like, ‘you know, I can help him out. I can do whatever you need,’ like, he wanted me to play baseball, and I’m like, ‘man, I’m not very good at this.’ I would play bench pretty quickly.”

Hocevar, now 21 and one of three rookies in the NASCAR Cup Series, has always felt like he’s had a home in the racing world.

Even at that 2009 event in New York City, it was simply the idea of seeing something related to NASCAR that excited him so much. He didn’t even consider himself a huge Jarrett fan at the time.

“Probably a lot of big money was passed up just for this little kid to have a NASCAR race suit,” Hocevar said.

While Jeter didn’t get Hocevar to pursue any level of a baseball career, he did try to at least get him near a diamond once. But Hocevar didn’t even get out of the car.

Hocevar’s father had collaborated with Jeter’s foundation on the construction of a new baseball field in Kalamazoo. But when Hocevar and his father arrived for the groundbreaking, Hocevar insisted on staying in the air conditioning, playing on his iPad in the back seat.

“I just didn’t have the passion for it,” Hocevar said. “I was a Yankees fan, just because I was a Jeter fan. So it’s cool — this all kind of came full circle, but I was a race fan.”