WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Road courses in the NASCAR Cup Series can create all sorts of unexpected outcomes. Despite struggles on Saturday, Spire Motorsports walked out of Watkins Glen International with all three of its cars finishing in the top 10 for the first time ever.
Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 team has been one of the weakest teams on the grid in recent years with a revolving door of drivers. Then, Carson Hocevar was hired out of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to drive the car full-time for 2024. This year, the performances are much better as Hocevar entered Sunday’s race 22nd in points.
At Watkins Glen, things weren’t all that great entering the race as Hocevar qualified 29th Saturday. The whole team was frustrated.
“It was horrible [Saturday],” Hocevar told Frontstretch after the race. “I was the last car in the 10-lap [average], but we were able to fix it overnight.”
Hocevar got himself to the front by choosing to stay out during the caution at the end of stage two. That allowed him to restart toward the front. Despite the tire wear, he was able to maintain his position and keep pace with Chris Buescher.
When the pit sequence finished, Hocevar ended up in third behind Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen. Then Harrison Burton cut his left rear tire and brought out the yellow with 11 laps to go when part of the casing came off.
Van Gisbergen’s decision to line up behind Buescher in the second row gave Hocevar the outside pole for the restart. Despite a strong restart from the WeatherTech Chevrolet, Hocevar was able to move himself up to second, a position that he held through the next restart.
On the final restart, Hocevar got an excellent jump and actually beat Buescher to the line to lead lap 90. However, van Gisbergen made an excellent move to the inside to take the lead for himself.
Hocevar was pushed back to third and ultimately finished there, a career-best finish. Despite that, he’s overjoyed with his form.
“To be in contention for a win this late in the race in my rookie year with this team speaks magnitudes.” Hocevar continued.
Sunday marked Hocevar’s first top-five and fifth top-10 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series (his previous best was eighth at both Gateway in June and Richmond in August). The finish keeps Hocevar 22nd in points, but he’s now only five behind Todd Gilliland.
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