The story of growth, success and even greatness will be on display in RISING, a new docuseries presented by Craftsman that’s releasing on YouTube with a new episode at 7 ET every night this week (Nov. 17-21).
NASCAR Studios, in partnership with Words + Pictures, will chronicle the stories of three young, up-and-coming drivers throughout the 2025 NASCAR season.
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The featured drivers — 22-year-old Carson Hocevar (Cup Series), 20-year-old Jesse Love (Xfinity Series champion) and 23-year-old Rajah Caruth (Craftsman Truck Series) — will give viewers exclusive access to their respective racing campaigns.
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Through an array of new and exciting challenges in the pursuit of success, these drivers will additionally be chronicled through their intertwining ups and downs, victories, crashes, tears of joy and tears of pain, all captured by behind-the-scenes cameras.
Hocevar, full-time driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, is not your typical NASCAR up-and-comer. At 21, he defied expectations and made the leap from Truck Series to Cup, skipping the Xfinity Series entirely. The move paid off; Hocevar captured 2024 Sunoco Rookie of the Year thanks to six top-10 finishes in his debut season.
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Hocevar‘s story, though, begins much earlier. A kid from Portage, Michigan, he created stop-motion animations of die-cast cars racing around a homemade track. His love for the sport evolved into a career when he began racing quarter midgets at the age of six. By age 12, he had already won 55 national races, more than any driver in United States Auto Club (USAC) history.
Fast forward to 2025, and Hocevar faces a new challenge: proving he‘s more than an upstart. Thanks to an aggressive driving style, Hocevar must now balance that competitive edge with the maturity required to become a true contender.
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“Ultimately, you always want to show people more of the insights and everything,” Hocevar said about the docuseries. “I remember as a kid buying every DVD I could find of mini docs. I think Kasey Kahne had one, Tony (Stewart) had one, (Dale) Jr. had plenty. And obviously (Dale) Sr. had a lot of them. So, yeah, I mean, that’s what made me a fan, or just kept me in racing. So, the more we can do of that as a sport is big, and for me to be a part of it, I think, is super cool.”
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Love first got behind the wheel at age 5. By 15, he was already making history, winning the first of back-to-back ARCA Menards Series West championships before capturing the national ARCA title in 2023. The Menlo Park, California, native made his Xfinity Series debut in 2024 and finished eighth in the championship standings, claiming Rookie of the Year honors. This year, he upset good friend Connor Zilisch to win the Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway.
From his behind-the-wheel performance as pilot for the historic Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to his passion for surfing, wakeboarding or DJing, Love brings a competitive fire that makes waves throughout his journey.
Caruth‘s journey is anything but conventional. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, and Washington, D.C., Caruth utilized a computer screen to race. By 16, he was competing in iRacing, NASCAR‘s youth esports league.
Such talent and determination earned him a spot in NASCAR‘s Drive for Diversity development program. Through late models, ARCA and now the Truck Series, Caruth has illustrated his competitive drive, with the then-rookie capturing his first career Truck victory in 2024 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, becoming the third Black driver to win a NASCAR race. From balancing the demands of racing and academics to showcasing discipline, Caruth continues to grow into his role as a trailblazer and will graduate to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity) next year.
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Words + Pictures is a documentary production studio that has created several series, including NASCAR: Full Speed, Super League: The War for Football, and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. Tune in to NASCAR’s YouTube channel for the release of a new episode each day at 7 p.m. ET this week.
