Carson Hocevar rebounds, dashes to runner-up result at Nashville

LEBANON, Tenn. -- Luke Lambert, crew chief of Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet, won’t sugarcoat that the Spire Motorsports entry had a bitter defeat last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The sophomore driver was in contention to win a crown-jewel race until experiencing a rare engine failure. That made a runner-up finish in Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway that much sweeter. "After last week, I will admittedly say, it was pretty crushing to feel like we were so close to having a great night in the Coke 600 and to come away with a DNF was heartbreaking," Lambert said. “Coming back here, rebounding, getting the type of run that proves we are capable of putting ourselves in contention to win a race is very reassuring. It's a lot of confidence boost moving forward." Hocevar rallied from a 26th-place starting position after Saturday’s qualifying session. In a rocky Stage 2 where the No. 77 car turned Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and handed the No. 47 team its first DNF of 2025, Hocevar drove to seventh position to score stage points. That set him up well for the final stage. RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Nashville "I got a run and felt like I was there,” Hocevar said of his run-in with Stenhouse. “I felt like I was there enough to get a car inside. He probably could have cleared me, so that’s what I expected him to do, and he didn’t. When he checked up, I almost spun, too. I feel like it’s just a product of this. "I feel like I could have gotten cut a break, too. I think it goes both ways or could go both ways." Hocevar chugged along with a fairly green final stage, finishing the event on a 102-lap run. Knowing the importance of fuel mileage, Lambert set the No. 77 car up to have a shorter final stop. Of the lead cars to make their final stops, Hocevar was second, pitting for the last time on Lap 244. "The fueling thing right now is a very big part of the puzzle," Lambert stated. "One miscue on the fuel play, the fueler doesn’t have a good plug, that sets the team back for the stops following it. Our guys were super clean, and we have a great fueler that does a great job." Pitting early helped Hocevar leap four spots in the running order, trailing only Ryan Blaney, who escaped with a nearly six-second advantage. While the No. 12 car was stuck in lapped traffic, Hocevar ate into the deficit. Ultimately, he finished 2.83 seconds behind Blaney, shy of scoring his first big-league win though he held off Denny Hamlin, a veteran making his 700th Cup start. "It feels really good," Hocevar added. "It sucks when you finish second, knowing the difference. All of those bad races earlier [in the season] don’t matter in this race today. It feels really good, especially going to Michigan. That's going to fit us even better than here. It stings, but it normally stings until Monday or Tuesday. I feel good about the speed and execution we have." The second-place finish ties the best finish of Hocevar’s young Cup career (Atlanta, February). It’s his first top-10 result on a non-drafting track since placing ninth at Homestead-Miami Speedway last fall. The uptick in speed has been evident at Spire in 2025, but that doesn’t make the loss any easier. "My dream and expectation is to be here, win races and run up front,” Hocevar said. “You’re disappointed because I feel like if I wasn’t disappointed, I don’t deserve this seat. It’s tough to live by when you’re constantly not winning, but I’m proud of the execution. "I don’t think we were better than [Blaney], or anything I could have done differently. You still want to win." MORE: Cup Series standings | In-Season Challenge field set Lambert, who has worked with three rookie drivers throughout his career, has had to take Hocevar under his wing more and guide the 22-year-old through what's just his second full Cup Series season. The regimen is beginning to pay off, particularly on the race track. The flashes of speed have come more regularly for the No. 77 group, which helped to lift Hocevar to his first career Cup pole position last month at Texas Motor Speedway. "What I’ve learned working with different rookies is so much about managing the expectations and building the mental toughness to be a Cup driver," Lambert added. "You can’t really develop that without driving in the series because guys that have been good in this series – they all are typically good drivers – but the mental toughness to manage Cup races is what the difference can be. "It's a 24/7 [job] on focus and discipline. Our focus is to develop the right amount of discipline for him and not holding his creativity back.” Hocevar will return next weekend to his home state of Michigan, where he finished 10th last summer.