It’s pretty difficult to win just about any race in the NASCAR Cup Series (let alone the DAYTONA 500), and right now there’s nobody who understands that better than Carson Hocevar.
The rising star out of Portage, Michigan, endured another devastating loss on Sunday in the DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway, when his No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet was turned into the outside wall, and in front of the pack, after an off-center bump from Erik Jones.
Hocevar finished 18th, a disappointing end to what was a… less than ideal Speedweeks.
“I was trying to pick which lane to cover; it just looked like the top had a huge run, and it was probably offset a little right. I don’t know if I didn’t commit all the way up, or if he just got me off-center, and it just hooked me into the wall, and then obviously I bounced off of it,” Hocevar said.
The 23-year-old driver kicked off his 2026 NASCAR National Series campaign with triple-duty at Daytona International Speedway, running Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports and Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event in the No. 42 for Young’s Motorsports, on top of his previous scheduled NASCAR Cup Series duties.
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In Friday’s Fresh From Florida 250, Hocevar had an extremely quick No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado RST and was a contender for the race-lead throughout much of the event, but multiple flat tires kept the Spire Motorsports driver out of contention.
Saturday was a different story, but really just more of the same bad luck, getting his Zeigler Auto Group-sponsored No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet caught up in several crashes while in the lead draft, which resulted in a poor finish.
“What is it with me and Florida, man?” Hocevar said after Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event. “Brakes, and then the flat tires yesterday [in the Truck Series race], and then every time I had a run and got track position, they wrecked in front of me, and then Rajah [Caruth] blew a tire, the second I got behind him, and of course it’s his left-rear. I’m hoping I’m just destined to have really bad luck, and the Duel went completely fine, so I’m hoping it’s just the fact that I’m running other races.”
Sunday was the one race that mattered the most, though: the DAYTONA 500. When it came time for the pay window to open, Hocevar not only had a clean Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro but was in position to hoist the Harley J. Earl trophy while earning his first career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“Our goal is to be leading at the white [flag], and I feel like I was a really, really good pusher. I thought I did a good job pushing the No. 45 after we pitted, and obviously Michael (McDowell) when I lined up behind him on the final restart. I feel like sometimes we were getting a little too far out, but I think that worked really well in the Duels on Thursday night. I was just trying to get us going, and we ultimately got separated. It’s a tough pill to swallow knowing that the car in my mirror at the white flag won the race.”
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Hocevar, despite the disappointing finish, leaves Daytona International Speedway in a solid points position, due to extra points accumulated through Thursday’s America 250 Florida Duels and the stages.
Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to EchoPark Speedway, a racetrack where Hocevar has finished well before, including a runner-up result in last February’s event.
But, if the results throughout his young career thus far are any indication, that first NASCAR Cup Series victory is likely coming soon for Hocevar.
