Carson Hocevar will climb into the seat of his No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro at COTA with the same goal he has had for the past 83 NASCAR Cup Series races: to win. For someone with his level of talent, it can get quite frustrating when that maiden victory remains out of reach for so long.
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Naturally, there are those who wonder if staying away from Victory Lane affects him mentally. Ahead of the third round of the 2026 season at COTA, Hocevar was asked just that. His answer was completely team oriented and focused on the journey that Spire Motorsports is on.
Hocevar said, “I think every team that’s not the big three teams that are basically dominating, they’re all trying to emulate Spires’ progression. You saw 23XI, they’re super successful. Trackhouse Racing is super successful. But now, we’re on that.”
“It’s a lot easier to say it and say you have a five-year plan, but it’s really hard to actually pull it off because when we get faster, the big teams see it and they want to get faster,” the Spire driver added.
The team keeps adding people and strategies to try and come out on top every race weekend. But so are the other teams. In Hocevar’s words, “the floor is rising higher than the ceiling”.
Hocevar further admitted that the expectation after his second full-time season with the team, in 2025, was to have already won. But what gives him confidence in this tricky situation is the recent results that have come his way. At both Daytona and Atlanta, he had a really fast car, and he was in a good position to secure wins. Some unfortunate decisions led to him not getting there.
Hocevar’s confidence runs high
Little is lost yet. Hocevar is just getting into the best form of his career. Veterans like Steve Letarte and Kyle Petty have expressed strong confidence in him and even compared him to the likes of Dale Earnhardt and Tim Richmond. He has every quality that a superstar driver needs to have and more. The only aspect he perhaps needs to work on is his on-track aggression.
But then, he considers that to be an attribute and not a flaw. Only time will tell, which is what. Optimism runs high in the No. 77 camp, meanwhile.
Hocevar continued, “I think we’re still really early here a little bit. I think we can do it. There were times where I felt like we were in impossible positions, and there were things I couldn’t do from behind the seat that took us out of contention. I think the track record so far this year of being up front in every race is holding a lot of weight for us and our confidence.”
Hocevar will start the race at COTA from 12th place on the grid.
