(Author’s note: Shane van Gisbergen will not be included in this edition of The Underdog House with respect to his road-course racing success both in NASCAR recently and in his background.)
Top Dog: Carson Hocevar
What makes NASCAR’s playoffs unique?
Aside from the structure of it, and the fact that we are discussing motorsports, it contrasts other mainstream American sports by including non-playoff drivers in the 10-race postseason.
Typically, while the non-playoff teams do anything but go into hiding, the cream of the crop consistently rises to the top.
But there’s a first for everything, and playoff history was written in the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International in the second race of the 2024 playoffs.
Only two championship-eligible drivers placed inside the top 10, and all 16 playoff drivers were shut out of the top five, the first time that has occurred since the current format was implemented in 2014.
Leading the charge was rookie Carson Hocevar, who earned a career-best finish in third.
Despite qualifying 29th, Hocevar displayed an impressive feat by working his way through the field over the course of the race, an overall struggle for drivers who were mired back in traffic. The No. 77 team played the strategy card of pitting before both stage ends to trade it for track position. That, along with good pace, allowed the 21-year-old to carve his way forward and into the top 10.
In the final stage, there was a growing possibility that Hocevar could score his first top five. However, after pitting for the final time on lap 60 and cycling ahead of competitors around him, Hocevar found himself in the mix for the win if the scenario played out correctly.
A lap 80 caution set Hocevar up to challenge for the victory, as he was running in third. On the restart, Hocevar chose the top and pushed race leader Chris Buescher before settling into second. Yet there ended up being not one restart but three attempts for the rookie to play spoiler. On all three attempts, the Spire Motorsports driver gave Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen a run for their money, but ultimately wound up third.
With his first Cup top five under his belt and a chance at the checkered flag based on race pace, has Hocevar arrived? There has been no denying the talent he possesses, but his aggression and reaction to contact from other drivers has drawn criticism.
All of that has slowly given way to the maturation of…
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