By David Morgan, Associate Editor
LEBANON, Tenn. – It was close, but no cigar for Carson Hocevar Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway.
The driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet brought home a runner-up finish when all was said and done in the Cracker Barrel 400 on the 1.33-mile concrete oval, crossing the line 2.830 seconds in arears of winner Ryan Blaney.
His runner-up result matches a previous career best of second, which came at Atlanta earlier this season.
But it took some work and strategy calls to get Hocevar in position to challenge for the win at the end of the night after starting the 300-lap race in 26th place.
He would hold serve through the end of Stage 1, maintaining his 26th place position in the running order, but in Stage 2, things started to ramp up.
By the midway point in the second stage, Hocevar would crack the top-10 and remained there for the duration of the evening, finishing the stage in seventh place.
On Lap 244, Hocevar would peel off the track for his final pit stop, making him one of the first cars to come down for service in the midst of the pit cycle.
Hocevar would wind up cycling into second place behind Blaney, but the gulf between them on track was just too much to overcome with so few laps left and he would have to settle for another runner-up finish on the season.
Having come so close to the win, Hocevar noted that it was a bittersweet result, but he and the team would roll the momentum into his home track in Michigan next week hoping for finish one spot higher.
“It feels really good. It sucks when you finish second, knowing of the difference,” said Hocevar. “I mean, that’s your year if you win. All those bad races don’t matter if we win a race today. So, it feels really good, especially going to Michigan. Qualifying draw I think is gonna be super important. Home race, I think that’s gonna fit us even better than here.
“But yeah, it stings. You know, it normally stings until about Monday or Tuesday and then you still feel good about it, of just at least the speed and execution we had.”
Hocevar added that although he’s disappointed not to have won the race, the performance his team showed on Sunday only confirms they are on the right track.
“My dream is to, and expectation is to be here and win races and be up front,” said Hocevar. “Yeah, it sucks when you don’t or you’re disappointed. Because I feel like if I wasn’t disappointed, I don’t deserve this seat.
“When I was a fan, I’d hate when people were pumped about second or pumped about third or whatever. I said I’d never be like that. And I feel like I’m not. It’s tough to live by when you’re constantly not winning, obviously. But yeah, I’m just proud of the execution. I can still be happy about how we executed.
“I mean, we were the second best today and nobody was gonna — I don’t think we were better than the 12 or anything I could have done differently. But still just, you want to win.”
Making Stenhouse’s S*** List
The end result of the day may have been a second-place finish for Hocevar and Spire, but he certainly didn’t make any friends along the way – especially Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On Lap 107, Hocevar would draw the ire of Stenhouse when contact from the front bumper of his car sent Stenhouse spinning into the outside wall in Turn 4.
Stenhouse would get the raw end of the deal, with the damage to his No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet being too much to repair and he would have to retire from the race, a detrimental blow to his place in the standings as the NASCAR Cup Series enters the second half of the regular season.
In the final rundown, Stenhouse would be credited with a 39th place finish.
Ride along with the Nos. 47 and 77. https://t.co/gOokWCrKQK pic.twitter.com/XeNdKPfP6W
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 2, 2025
“A lap or two before, he tried to dive in there from about 10 car lengths back,” Stenhouse said after his mandatory visit to the Infield Care Center. “And then that time, I just opened my entry a little bit and he overcharged the corner and just drilled us in the rear bumper.
“I’d say it’s not out of the norm for him, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that at that point in the race. Bummer for us, our whole NOS Energy Drink Camaro. It wasn’t great, but we were kind of making changes. I felt like that restart, we were a little bit better than where I was before and we were just burning our right rear tire off throughout the run.
“Bummed that our day ended like that. Definitely will have something to do about it at some point.”
Stenhouse added that he would have a conversation with Hocevar about it, but pulled back on waiting around for him after tonight’s race.
“That costs too much money,” he quipped, referring to the fine he incurred after his run-in with Kyle Busch after the 2024 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.
After climbing from his car following his runner-up finish, Hocevar gave his side of the story, chalking it all up to being a product of the current style of racing in the Cup Series.
“Yeah, I kind of got a run and felt like I was kind of there,” said Hocevar. “I felt like I was there enough, right? To get a call inside and have him just kind of run the middle. Honestly, he probably could have cleared me, so that’s just what I expected him to do and he didn’t. And by the time I checked up I almost spun too.
“So yeah, if he wants to talk, I’ll be glad to talk. But, you know, I feel like it’s just a product of this unfortunately. Everybody just kind of tries to get there and I think there were a bunch of people that got shipped that either didn’t wreck or did get wrecked.”
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