DARLINGTON, S.C. -Earning your first stage win? Check. Earning your first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win? Carson Hocevar again came up just one spot short.
On lap 92 out of the total 149 laps ran on Friday (May 6) night’s Dead On Tools 200 at Darlington Raceway, Hocevar crossed the line to win his first career stage victory in the Truck Series. Winning your first stage is great in its own right – with 10 extra points and another playoff point to boot – but what made the triumph even sweeter was that he had beaten full-time Cup Series driver Ross Chastain to do it.
Hocevar’s pass of Niece teammate Chastain hadn’t happened through a clever pit strategy or fresh tires either. Hocevar had run the Melon Man down to make the pass for the lead before the end of stage two. On Friday night, the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Silverado was fast – maybe even race-winning fast.
But the 19-year-old knew better than to celebrate early. He had been there before. In fact, he had been there only one race earlier at Bristol Motor Speedway when he was leading with only four laps to go until he was passed by eventual race winner Ben Rhodes.
Friday’s race at the Track Too Tough to Tame would be little different. Hocevar would eventually settle for another second-place result on Friday night – the third of his Truck Series career.
Caught up with Carson Hocevar after his second consecutive runner-up finish#NASCAR #DeadOnTools200 pic.twitter.com/vNOHEez8FL
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneLT) May 7, 2022
“Anytime I think I’m going to win or start preparing what I’m going to say in my victory lane speech, it all goes to hell in a hand basket,” said Hocevar. “I go with the Dale Jr. philosophy of, ‘What’s going to go wrong now? What’s going to keep me from winning this race?’”
For the Truck Series sophomore driver, it went wrong almost immediately.
During the second stage break, Hocevar pitted from the lead with the rest of the lead lap trucks all…
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