When the NASCAR Cup Series rolled into Daytona Beach, Fla., for the 66th running of the Daytona 500 in February, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar was a relative unknown among NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
The 21-year-old from Portage, Mich., showed flashes of brilliance during his time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. And a tendency to let his temper get the best of him, which often led to making rash decisions that hurt him and his team.
Hocevar’s first start in the Great American Race didn’t do much to help that image. A crash five laps into the race netted him a 40th-place finish.
In the 31 Cup Series races since Daytona, Hocevar has quietly made himself known. And he’s carrying the still-young Cup Series organization of Spire Motorsports to new heights in the process.
Hocevar’s No. 77 team, led by veteran crew chief Luke Lambert, sits 21st in the Cup Series points standings after 32 races, comfortably above teammate Zane Smith (29th) and the No. 7 car, (32nd in owner points) which has been piloted by both Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley.
Immediately following his DNF at Daytona, Hocevar rattled off three consecutive top-20 finishes, including a pair of 15th-place efforts at Las Vegas and Phoenix.
For the young Spire team, those runs proved the organization’s investment into both Hocevar and its team as a whole was paying off.
Hocevar’s first top-10 finish of his rookie season came at Texas on April 14, which also proved to be the first top-10 finish for Spire on a traditional, non-drafting oval.
From there, Hocevar’s results snowballed into a stellar summer stretch. Finishes of eighth at St. Louis, 17th at Sonoma, 14th at Iowa, 17th at New Hampshire and 16th at Nashville were fantastic, but soon nullified in the public view due to an incident at Nashville that saw Hocevar spin Harrison Burton under yellow.
The incident immediately gave fans flashbacks to Hocevar’s Truck Series tenure, in which he routinely caused incidents of varying severity without regard for other drivers on the track.
Hocevar apologized for his actions at Nashville the next weekend in Chicago, and when the circuit traveled to Pocono on July 14, Hocevar began another mini-run. A 17th-place effort in the Pennsylvania mountains was followed by finishes of 12th at Indianapolis, eighth at Richmond, 10th at his home track of Michigan and 11th at Daytona. While Hocevar didn’t qualify for the playoffs, he’d proven that he was capable of consistently running with the big dogs.
The magnum opus of Hocevar’s rookie season came at Watkins Glen on Sept. 15, where Hocevar managed to score a career-best finish of third, nearly grabbing his first career win in overtime before Chris Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen settled the race among themselves.
Finishes of 18th at Bristol, 14th at Talladega and 12th at the Charlotte Roval have only been gravy for Hocevar in a rookie showing that has impressed even his most dubious doubters.
Hocevar’s maturity over the course of the season has been as commendable as his performance. After a poor judgment in the Nashville incident, Hocevar was front and center in the media scene throughout the following week, taking the blame for his actions without a hint of an excuse.
In the four months following Hocevar’s incident with Burton at Nashville, no further transgressions have occurred, leaving Hocevar’s solid results on the racetrack do all the talking for the flashy rookie.
The most important statistics of all?
Hocevar has all but locked up Rookie of the Year honors, currently sitting six positions and 98 points above fellow rookie Josh Berry.
Barring a major meltdown, Hocevar will sew up the Rookie of the Year award when the Cup Series rolls into Phoenix for Championship Weekend. As the NASCAR world hones in on the battle for the championship, you can be rest assured that Hocevar will be in the picture over the final four weeks of the season, silently clawing his way towards the front of the pack.
More about:NASCAR News