Since last year marked his rookie campaign, few scrutinized Carson Hocevar’s results too harshly. In fact, he had set a realistic benchmark for himself — aiming to consistently finish inside the top 20 without biting off more than he could chew.
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That steady approach paid dividends, ultimately earning him the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year title. However, with the training wheels off this season, expectations have naturally climbed.
Through the opening nine races this season, Hocevar has secured just one top-five — a runner-up finish at Atlanta. Even so, he’s flashed competitive speed on multiple occasions, even if the finishes haven’t fully backed it up.
During the pre-race media session at Bristol, when asked about how he evaluates his performance — whether by results or overall execution — Hocevar gave an honest take.
He acknowledged that results are what show up on paper, but when those don’t fall into place, it becomes necessary to analyze what is going astray.
Hocevar admitted that a string of poor finishes can often stem from things beyond a driver’s control — be it a blown tire or a mechanical failure. However, he stressed that when a car is genuinely quick and running smoothly, the results come naturally. For now, his team owner, Jeff Dickerson, has offered one key directive: steer clear of wrecks and stay out of trouble.
Hocevar shared that Dickerson often reminds him of races where his #77 Chevy lacked speed, yet still managed solid results simply because others were caught in accidents. Reflecting on that, Hocevar explained, “I think it’s sustainable for us long-term, for sure, to be fast and wonder what’s kind of keeping us from finishing good, rather than be slow and not sure why we’re finishing okay…”
He continued, “Our group is so strong. We’re so good on pit road. We’re good on the racetrack… It’s just we just got to be able to take advantage of the adversity. And as my dad would remind me when I was a kid, in racing there are character-building moments, and our #77 team’s going through that right now.”
Although he praised his crew and team for putting their best foot forward ahead of the Bristol race, ultimately, a misstep on pit road robbed him of a top-five finish at Bristol.
Did Hoecvar’s pit crew jeopardize his potential win?
Carson Hocevar was breathing down Kyle Larson’s neck in the final stage at Bristol Motor Speedway, ready to shake up the frontrunners. But just as he seemed ready to compete for a top-three finish, a costly blunder on pit road threw a wrench in the works, dropping him two laps behind.
After securing a top-five in Stage 1 and finishing fourth in Stage 2, Hocevar stayed in the thick of the battle through the early laps of Stage 3. Up to lap 142, he was trading blows with Gibbs while holding stride with Larson and Hamlin. However, everything unraveled during a green-flag pit cycle. What should have been a smooth stop ballooned into a 22-second ordeal.
As the crew transitioned from the right-side tires to the left, Hoecvar’s #77 Chevrolet slipped off the jack, forcing them to scramble to reset it and bolt the remaining tires.
Once back on the track, he matched the leaders’ pace, which only added insult to injury and made the missed opportunity all the more difficult to digest. He ended up finishing in P11.
