Carson Hocevar Takes Battle At Berlin Win Over Erik Jones, Bubba Pollard

What a race, and what a battle between some of the best racers in the country. Carson Hocevar emerged victorious at Berlin Raceway in Wednesday night’s UARA National Series Battle At Berlin 250 in what was a hotly contested battle between him, his fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor Erik Jones, and Super Late Model legend Bubba Pollard.

Hocevar, who cut his teeth racing at Berlin Raceway where he won the 2017 Super Late Model Track Championship, had never recorded a win in the prestigious Battle At Berlin 250 prior to Wednesday night’s triumph.

“It’s pretty special to win here, and the biggest win of them all, here,” Hocevar said of his win.

After a wild celebratory burnout, Hocevar climbed from his No. 71H Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet and put his arms in the air to a rousing round of applause from his crew members and his hometown fans. Hocevar went into the race dreading having to race on the McCreary tire, which has been utilized in favor of the Hoosier tire at Berlin Raceway. At the end of the night, he changed his tune quite a bit.

“Ah, it’s so big. This car was so fun and to drive. This place is tough with this tire. I don’t think I or anybody else has enjoyed this tire since they switched to it. But if they put a race like that on, I’m going to beg for them to keep them on even if it sucks to drive,” Hocevar chuckled.

While Hocevar and Pollard were the class of the field for the majority of the race, Jones worked his way to the lead and appeared to have the best car in the field with around 50 laps remaining in the event.

As Jones marched away to a comfortable lead, Hocevar was under fire from Pollard for the second position, and it looked like if Pollard were to get around, Hocevar could potentially free-fall as there were other hungry drivers breathing down Pollard’s neck as well.

Hocevar knew his only chance to win the race was to hold off Pollard going into the final competition caution. He did just that, and on the ensuing restart, everything he needed to have happened, happened.

“Racing with Erik and Bubba, obviously, those guys are super, super talented and their cars are really good. I thought I burned the right rear clean off of it there, and didn’t think we were going to get a shot,” Hocevar admitted. “I was just trying to hold off Bubba as long as I could to maybe keep myself on the front row for the last restart. When he gave me the bottom, I was shocked because I was like, ‘maybe if I could just slide up and take his line away, I might be able to clear him,’ and that’s exactly what happened.”

Hocevar made an aggressive move to the inside as he knifed his way around Jones for the lead, and he cleared himself in Turn 2. Hocevar wouldn’t look back as he would lead the final 15 laps of the race on his way to victory.

Jones would hold on for a runner-up finish ahead of Pollard, Michael Atwell, and Kole Raz, who rounded out the top five finishers in the race.

Jones was disappointed in coming up short in his bid to score his third win in the Battle At Berlin, and first in the race since 2016. Alas, he lost the handle on his car on the final run of the race.

“I was just too tight,” Jones explained. “We were kind of third there all day to Bubba and Carson and needed to make an adjustment, just got too tight at the end. You know, I hate it didn’t work out. I got the lead there, and I was trying to hold it just to have the restart. Just didn’t work out. Yeah, close, and it’s hard to be that close but clean car, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Bubba Pollard, like Jones, lamented not keeping up with the adjustments on his car as the reason for his bid at the win coming up short.

“I was just tight there on that last run,” Pollard said. “Just didn’t adjust enough. Kind of got comfortable and didn’t adjust enough. That’s all it was. The top three right there were pretty equal all night. I knew Erik was riding right there in that middle part of the race. We were going to go get tires. I just didn’t adjust and it cost us the night. All in all, good race.”

While he didn’t score his second consecutive win in the Battle At Berlin, Pollard did put together another solid performance, especially considering he had to climb from the 13th starting position.

Evan Shotko, Brian Campbell, Chase Burda, Jeremy Doss, and Treyten Lapcevich made up the remainder of the top-10 finishers in the event.

UARA National Series Battle At Berlin 250 Race Results