In the modern days of superspeedway racing – or any type of racing for that matter – in the NASCAR Cup Series, manufacturer loyalty has become one of the most crucial guidelines for a driver and/or organization to follow while on the racetrack.
Sometimes it doesn’t work out exactly as planned, and sometimes the starts don’t exactly align to make it happen, but whenever possible, sticking within your faction, whether it be Team Chevy, Ford Performance, or Toyota GAZOO Racing, is always preferred.
During Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, one organization broke the confines of manufacturer loyalty during the last green-flag pit stop cycle, and lo and behold, the strategy play netted a top-10 finish.
Spire Motorsports, which fields entries for Justin Haley (No. 7), Michael McDowell (No. 71), and Carson Hocevar (No. 77), elected to bring their Chevrolet-backed cars down pit road with a group of drivers in Toyota-supported entries, in an attempt to pit in a smaller group.
Despite being significantly further back in the pack than the Toyota drivers who pitted were, Carson Hocevar made it work, not only getting his No. 77 Chili’s Chevrolet on pit road with no mistakes but somehow clicking off a fast enough pit stop to lead the line out of the pits.
“I thought that was a good play, ultimately coming with [the Toyota drivers]. If the yellow comes out, you cycle to the lead against the others, and we were able to execute really well on pit road, that was really big for us,” said Hocevar. “Our pit crew did a really good job, everybody did a phenomenal job, and we had to change the helmet and do a lot of things, and fight through a lot of adversity, a package that is really difficult to pass.”
“I felt like we were always able to put ourselves up front, and that was being on pit road and really executing coming off pit road and coming off first in the line. It was a lot of fun to know that was an opportunity there, it just didn’t quite work out obviously with no yellow, but still a really solid points day that we really needed.”
Hocevar spent several laps leading the charge of Toyota Camry XSE entries after making their final green-flag pit stop, but as soon as the different groups of cars began to merge on-track, the master plan kind of unraveled, with a major block from Ross Chastain in the No. 1 Chevrolet.
As Chastain moved up into the path of Hocevar, the 22-year-old rookie darted through the middle and shot by the Trackhouse Racing driver, but all of his help behind, beginning with Denny Hamlin had to take evasive action in the aftermath.
“Everybody is just trying to block lanes and just try and stall out, and I saw a quick hole and just filled middle, so I mean that’s just part of racing,” Hocevar added. “The No. 51 and everybody was doing that, so Ross, I think, was just trying to get side-by-side with another car. It’s just good racing.”
That evasive move allowed Hocevar to make forward progress in the pack, getting himself up into the top-10 at the finish of the race, while the other Toyotas following in his path were unable to even crack the top-15 at the end of the event.
Hocevar crossed the line in eighth place and was promoted to sixth after the disqualification of both Ryan Preece (P2) and Joey Logano (P5).
The solid run catapults Hocevar inside the top-20 in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, after a stretch of four finishes of 30th or worse in five races dropped him as low as 30th in the series point standings, just two weeks ago.
Now, just 21 points below the cutline, the second-year driver will look to continue thriving and making a run towards a NASCAR Cup Series postseason bid.
