Carson Hocevar Scores Career-Best Cup Finish at Gateway

The return to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, the site of his NASCAR Cup Series debut, proved to be the best race at stock car racing’s top level to date for Carson Hocevar.

The Spire Motorsports driver quietly moved up the running order in the Enjoy Illinois 300. Hocevar broke into the top-10 towards the end of Stage 2. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender held off a challenge from Austin Dillon when the caution waved for a crash between Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson on the final lap of the Stage. Hocevar inherited eighth as Stage 2 ended under caution.

The nature of the 1.25-mile track meant that Hocevar’s track position aided his run throughout the final stage of the 300-mile race. A caution-free final stage meant that the Portage, MI native was able to maintain his spot inside the top-10. A clean round of green flag pit stops allowed Dillon to leapfrog Hocevar, dropping the No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 down to ninth.

The Chevy driver closed in on Christopher Bell’s failing Toyota Camry as the laps clicked off. Although Hocevar ran out of time to catch and pass Bell, he slipped by Ryan Blaney after the race leader ran out of fuel with just over a lap to go. When the checkered flag waved, Hocevar was eighth.

“This No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevy team did a really good job with everything all race long,” Hocevar said. “We had a really slow stop at the beginning of the race with a lug nut coming off. That really put us behind. We knew we had a great Chevy, so we just did everything we could.

“We played strategy a little bit to make sure we were on the right end of it. We caught the caution right, but then after that, our car was really good. We ran as high of fourth and we were catching third. Our lights were off, so we were a little slow down pit road. That was probably the difference of getting a top-five finish or not. All-in-all, it was just a really good job by this No. 77 team.”