Carson Hocevar Rocks His Way to Nashville Victory Lane

Carson Hocevar was r-o-c-k-i-n-g in Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: Eric Parks | The Podium Finish)

LEBANON, Tenn. – It would seem that Carson Hocevar has gained that winning feeling in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

After pursuing his first Truck win in his first 59 starts, it only took eight races to tally his second career victory. Unlike the scrappy finish at Texas Motor Speedway, the Portage, Michigan native rocked his way to Victory Lane with a clean, smooth effort in Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Starting from the seventh position, Hocevar patiently worked his way to a fourth place result in Stage 1. By Stage 2, he drove his way to a runner-up result.

By all means, the driver of the No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado, prepared by Niece Motorsports, was fast and a few opportune moments away from battling for the victory.

If Hocevar wanted to tally his second win of the year, he would have to square off against Zane Smith, the reigning Truck champion, Matt DiBenedetto and Bayley Currey. On this occasion, Hocevar was more than up to the task at the 1.333-mile concrete speedway.

Once Stage 3 was underway, Hocevar, restarting on the outside of Row 1 in second spot, got a big assist from Smith heading past the stripe into Turn 1. The push propelled Hocevar to the lead on Lap 111, scooting past Corey Heim, the Stage 2 winner, and pulling out to a comfortable advantage over Smith.

On Friday night, Hocevar was not going to be denied his second trip to Victory Lane. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)

For a while, it seemed like it would be a straightforward victory for Hocevar over Smith. Then again, the latter was not about to give up without a fight, drawing slowly but surely on Hocevar as the race wound down.

Just as the race was starting to shape into a late race duel for the win, a frontstretch crash involving Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger on Lap 142 brought out the race’s final caution.

Heim led a slew of lead lap contenders onto pit road for fresh tires to make a last ditch effort and charge for the win. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Smith stayed out to retain their track position.

With three laps to go, Hocevar led the restart and pulled away from Smith. Coming to the final lap of the race, Nick Sanchez, who pitted prior to the restart, rocketed his way to third place and in position to snatch the second spot from Smith.

Essentially, it was all for naught as far as the victory was concerned for Smith and Sanchez as they battled for the runner-up position. Coming to the stripe, Hocevar earned his second win of his career and the 2023 season.

To say the least, Hocevar made it clear that this victory was cleanly earned and undisputed with good strategy, teamwork and driving.

It was a golden evening during the golden hour for Hocevar. (Photo: Eric Parks | The Podium Finish)

“I enjoy it a lot right now and I enjoy it especially because every one of these fans were cheering and hollering or booing, who cares, but I’m so excited I get to hold the trophy,” Hocevar said. “I led it to the white and carried it around so I could finally get that out of the rest. Hopefully, that puts together any doubters and Al Niece, I hope he lets me drive the truck for long time because I want to win a lot of races for him.

“In the meantime, hopefully, we win a lot more races everywhere else under the sun and any car I get in. I’m just thankful that I have owners and people, Worldwide Express, our president, Mike Grayson, finally gets to be here. He wasn’t here for Texas.

“So, it’s just… Phil Gould’s a magician with these things. I’m just glad I’m finally able to put fraction together of what he deserves.”

Tallying his fifth top five finish in a row, Hocevar suddenly finds himself in position to tally a high ranking for the Truck Series Playoffs. On the other hand, Smith stopped a bad stretch of races, taking his first podium since a third place finish at Kansas Speedway in May.

“We just simply just struggled from first to second, but we were really good from third to fourth,” Smith said. “That’s all there was to it. I was honestly kind of bummed out when the caution came out there, because I knew we struggled all day on restarts.”

Smith found himself in a spirited struggle with Sanchez on the final lap of the race. In spite of the admirable effort, Sanchez came up short in his quest to place second, tallying a third place result.

3rd at Nashville. Disappointed, felt like we had the speed to get it done just needed it to play out a bit different. Mid-Ohio up next. pic.twitter.com/O6oUyWDQxm

— Nicholas Sanchez (@Nicksanchez080) June 24, 2023

By all means, Hocevar knew what he would do with the $50,000 bonus after a bit of a cheeky moment at the gas station prior to the Truck race.

“I was really dumb and put gas in my diesel truck and I had to pay a bill that he doesn’t even know I did,” he said with a grin. “So, hopefully, I’ll pay that off. My dad’s at home. His birthday’s this weekend. So hopefully, Happy Birthday, Dad.

“My girlfriend, Peyton, I begged her to come, so hopefully, this will make her come more often. I love every one of these people that is behind me, and everybody that’s at home, everybody that’s just been around me.”

No doubt, Hocevar felt the love of his support system who have supported his racing efforts through the ups and downs. That love seemed to extend to his winning truck as he thought about its next time out at the track after the acustomary burnout.

Smith raised the roof at Nashville. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)

“I wanted to keep it going but I wanted to save this thing,” Hocevar said. “I got lost in my own cloud. I stood up and I don’t even know if y’all could see me. But man, we’re going to celebrate for a while. Luckily, I’m 20, so I just get to watch a bunch of other people get drunk.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Zane Smith
2. Nick Sanchez
3. Bayley Currey
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Corey Heim
6. Tyler Ankrum
7. Tanner Gray
8. Grant Enfinger
9. Matt DiBenedetto
10. Taylor Gray

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Corey Heim
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Matt DiBenedetto
4. Zane Smith
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Tyler Ankrum
7. Bayley Currey
8. Tanner Gray
9. Jake Drew
10. Christian Eckes

Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway Race Results