One of the biggest stories entering this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Sonoma Raceway has been the status of Carson Hocevar, after the 19-year-old was involved in a last-lap accident at WWT Raceway.
Hocevar, who confirmed that he sustained a break to his right tibia from the accident, was cleared to practice his Niece Motorsports entry on Friday, before getting approval to compete in Saturday’s race by completing 10 practice laps.
On Saturday, Hocevar elected to compete in qualifying for the Door Dash 250 at Sonoma Raceway and put forward an incredible lap in both rounds, netting the Portage, Michigan-native his first career pole in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
However… Hocevar likely won’t be starting at the front of the field for Saturday’s event, after spinning mere seconds after crossing the timing line, collecting the turn 10 tire barriers with the back of his Worldwide Express-sponsored entry.
Video: After Turning Lap Fast Enough For Pole, Carson Hocevar Crashes at Sonoma
Hocevar’s pole-winning time was a blistering 78.609-second lap (91.135mph) and led his Niece Motorsports teammate, Ross Chastain, by more than a half-second in the final round of qualifying.
Kyle Busch will start Saturday’s Door Dash 250 in third-place, with Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum each earning top-five starting positions. Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Grant Enfinger, Hailie Deegan, and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top-10.
Other notables include Zane Smith (13th), Chandler Smith (14th), Austin Dillon (16th), Ben Rhodes (17th), Christian Eckes (18th), Matt Crafton (24th).
Before the start of qualifying, there were 37 trucks entered in the event, but G2G’s No. 47 Toyota Tundra withdrew from the race, after not being prepared to take a lap in qualifying.
Travis McCullough was scheduled to pilot the No. 47, but would be replaced by Stefan Parsons as McCullough had no laps in practice. However, Parsons would end up qualifying the No. 46 truck, rather than Mason Filippi.