Carson Hocevar finally scores his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win in a crash marred SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, Texas – After 58 prior starts defined by promising runs and results and heartbreaking finishes, 20-year-old Carson Hocevar finally broke through to Victory Lane in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
Surely, it was not the way that the Portage, Michigan native envisioned his maiden Truck win to unfold. Then again, Hocevar has made his presence known at the intermediate tracks, particularly in the past two years.
Prior to Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway, Hocevar was mired in a bit of a rough stretch with finishes of 31st and 34th respectively at Atlanta and COTA. Dropping from seventh to 14th in the points standings, the Michigander and his No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado, prepared by Niece Motorsports, sought after much needed relief and progress.
From jump street, Hocevar had another fast truck unloaded from the hauler, qualifying with the fifth fastest time. However, it was not an easy path to Victory Lane.
Finishing 18th in Stage 1 and 16th in Stage 2, Hocevar appeared to be biding his time but had some serious competition in the form of Nick Sanchez, Chase Purdy, Christian Eckes, Corey Heim and Zane Smith.
Nick Sanchez appeared well on his way to win his first Truck race on Saturday afternoon. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
Once it was down to crunch time, Hocevar worked his way up the leaderboard while Sanchez, who won Stages 1 and 2, seemed in command of the fifth race of the 2023 Truck season. Following a bitter runner-up at Atlanta, Sanchez seemed like he was in position to snatch his first career Truck win, a potentially monumental moment for the Miami native and his No. 2 Rev Racing team.
Particularly, Sanchez, who led a total of 168 laps, including 92 consecutive circuits, did not put a foot wrong all afternoon long.
Before Sanchez or any driver pursued victory in Saturday’s race, a scary multi-truck frontstretch crash on Lap 145 involving Trey Hutchens, Matt Mills, Armani Williams and Dean Thompson brought out the red flag. While Hutchens, Mills and Williams clambered out of their wrecked trucks, Thompson was taken out of his No. 5 ride on a stretcher.
Thompson was transported to a local hospital where he was evaluated and released, as he took to Twitter to thank the medical staff and infield care nurses at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hey y’all, I actually deleted Twitter to do a detox for about a month but I’m back lol. Just to update y’all I’m doing good, just getting some scans done then I’m gonna go have a beer when I get home!
— Dean Thompson (@deanthompsonr) April 2, 2023
Once the race resumed, it was a wild scramble for the win at the 1.5-mile speedway. Incidents on Lap 156 for Daniel Dye, Taylor Gray, Mason Massey and Tyler Ankrum, Lap 161 for Matt Crafton, Tanner Gray, Grant Enfinger and Colby Howard, and Lap 167 for Lawless Alan set up the fateful Overtime restart.
On Lap 171, Sanchez led the two-lap Overtime restart, ready to stave off the likes of Purdy, Hocevar, Friesen, Ty Majeski, Smith and Eckes. Coming to the white flag lap, Sanchez and Smith, who traded paint, looked like they would enter Turn 1 side-by-side with Hocevar ready to snooker them with a three wide pass.
However, Sanchez’s No. 2 truck was a bit squirrely from the contact with Smith. Hocevar, who attempted to bump draft Sanchez past Smith, darted to the inside while Sanchez and Smith crashed into the Turn 1 wall.
If there was any contact between Hocevar and Sanchez, it was as light as could be with unintentionally detrimental results for the latter and Smith.
Meanwhile, Hocevar went on to win his first Truck race, performing a smokeshow burnout once he received official word of his much anticipated victory.
Rather than offering his thoughts in the traditional, frontstretch winner’s interview, Hocevar was interviewed by FS1’s Jamie Howe in Victory Lane.
“I didn’t think y’all were gonna talk to me, to be honest. I figured I was gonna talk to y’all out there,” Hocevar said. “I’m just excited. I didn’t mean to get into the No. 2, obviously. I just wanted to give him a push and they were sideways the second I hit him. He was gone.
“I apologize to them, I’ll take the fall for it, I wrecked a Chevy but I’ll go talk to him about it – he deserved to win for sure. But all the times we were the fastest car and I don’t win, and this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked so many times. We didn’t deserve to win today but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
Despite the excitement of a maiden Truck win, Hocevar was contrite about the final lap, Turn 1 incident, particularly with his intentions to battle for the win without the contact and accident.
Hocevar can finally stop answering those inundation of questions about his first Truck race win. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
“I didn’t see anything. They hit pretty good,” he said when describing the side-by-side duel between Smith and Sanchez. “I was trying to push and he was sideways. The second he crossed back up, I was coming so much faster than him. He was sideways the second I touched him and he went around. I didn’t mean to tear up any racecars.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
Regardless of the circumstances, Hocevar is the latest Truck winner and he has as good as any shot to earn a second consecutive win heading into next Saturday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Majeski looks to defend his victory while Hocevar hopes to earn his first Thunder Valley win, dirt track style.
Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers
Sanchez-Rhodes-Eckes-Majeski-Z. Smith/Thompson-Heim-Purdy-Friesen-Enfinger
Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers
Sanchez-Eckes-Rhodes-Thompson-Z.Smith/Tanner Gray-Heim-Purdy-Taylor Gray-Crafton
SpeedyCash.com 250 Top 10 Finishers at Texas
Hocevar-Purdy-Frisen-Majeski-Garcia/Deegan-Heim-Vargas-Wood-Rhodes
