Carson Hocevar climbed 24 spots atop the leaderboard on Sunday evening to score a runner-up finish at Nashville. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
LEBANON, Tenn. – To say that Carson Hocevar and the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team has shown loads of speed over the last two weeks of NASCAR Cup Series competition is quite the understatement, as the reigning Sunoco rookie of the year award recipient flexed his muscles in the late goings of the race, scoring his second runner-up finish of 2025 in Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The 22-year-old product out of Portage, Michigan, was able to dig himself out of a three-race slump after suffering three finishes outside of the top 20, including a wreck in the previous race at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After starting back in the 26th position, Hocevar’s charge to the front was delayed, as the driver of the No. 77 Ziegler Auto Group Chevrolet remained just outside the top 25 for the entire 90-lap opening stage, finishing in the same position he qualified in.
Hocevar began his quest to the front of the 39-car field as the green flag waved to start Stage 2. Just after Lap 100, the young driver began climbing the leaderboard but had a run-in with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while entering Turn 3. This incident resulted in the 2023 DAYTONA 500 winner getting spun around after contacting Hocevar’s rear bumper, igniting tensions with the fiery Stenhouse Jr, which ended his race.
Nonetheless, Hocevar’s march continued, as he capitalized on missed stage points earlier in the opening stage by finishing seventh to conclude Stage 2.
In the final stage of the race, the Spire Motorsports crew executed a successful undercut during the last round of green-flag pit stops. As a result, they moved up to second place on the track with 29 laps remaining in the 300-lap event.
Carson Hocevar racing on track in the 2025 Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
He started slicing away at the margin held by eventual race winner Ryan Blaney, however, Hocevar’s progress appeared to stall as he encountered a wall of lap traffic, which dashed his hopes of catching Blaney. Ultimately, he finished the race in second place, marking his second runner-up finish of the year, finishing over three seconds behind.
“It just proves how strong this group is to go from the disappointment last week (Charlotte) to having a really bad qualifying draw, qualifying badly, and sticking through it and having a shot. A shot, like a straightaway,” Hocevar said in a post-race interview following the hard-fought finish.
Hocevar also discussed the incident on Lap 106 involving Stenhouse Jr., which led to the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet driver’s early exit and left Stenhouse with visible frustration towards Hocevar.
“I mean, I haven’t seen the replay. I’ve seen a bunch of people just kind of do that same sort of move and get shipped, and I think he was the only one to wreck or for me to wreck him, or maybe there was one more. But I feel like that was just a common move with how big of a run I had.”
“I’m sure he’ll want to talk about it. I’ll talk about it. We’ll look at the replay. But I have no idea until I see it.”
Hocevar gave props to his Spire Motorsports crew, who have brought all three cars promising speed to specifically mile-and-a-half events this season.
“But just proud of this group, Ziegler Auto Group, everybody that puts something into this race car, they deserve good finishes. I think our average with this car is like 38th (with that sponsor). So it’s a big upgrade. I was probably being a lot more vocal on the radio than I needed to be, but you’re just trying so hard and trying to find something that is just not there. One spot short again, which is, at least hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.”
Hocevar leaves “The Music City” sitting 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series, as well as sitting four points below the provisional playoff cutline as the driver heads back home to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 8 for the running of the FireKeepers Casino 400.
Coverage of the event will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime at 2:00 p.m. ET, with radio coverage provided by the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
