Carson Hocevar has officially been named the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
The 21-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, made his Cup Series debut at World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023, where he filled in as an interim competitor for Corey LaJoie in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry as LaJoie was filling for the suspended Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry. By then, Hocevar was campaigning in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Niece Motorsports. Starting 26th, Hocevar ended up in 36th place, dead last, in his Cup debut after he blew a right-front tire through the frontstretch, hit the outside wall and slid into the Turn 1 outside wall within the Lap 90 mark.
For eight of the remaining 10 events of the 2023 Cup Series season, Hocevar piloted the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Legacy Motor Club. During the 10-race stint, Hocevar achieved a season-best 11th-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway in September and a total of five top-20 results. In the midst of Hocevar’s part-time Cup campaign, he made the Championship 4 round in the Truck Series and settled in third place in the final standings despite racking up a total of four victories throughout the season.
In October 2023, Hocevar announced his graduation to the Cup Series on a full-time basis, where he would replace Ty Dillon to drive the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Spire Motorsports, where he would be paired with veteran crew chief Luke Lambert. Hocevar commenced his first full-time Cup campaign on a low note after he was involved in a multi-car wreck on the fifth lap that sidelined him in 40th place, dead last. The Michigan native would rebound during the following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway by finishing 19th before he recorded back-to-back 15th-place finishes between Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, respectively. Another five races later, he recorded his first top-10 result in the Cup Series by finishing 10th at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
Then after finishing no higher than 17th over his next five starts, Hocevar recorded a strong eighth-place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. He would proceed to finish in the top 20 10 times over his next 11 starts before he achieved a career-best starting spot of second place for the 2024 Cup Series regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway for the Southern 500 in September. Hocevar, however, would end up in 33rd place after being involved in two separate incidents. By then, he missed the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs as he was ranked in 22nd place in the driver’s standings.
For the remaining 10 events on the 2024 Cup schedule, Hocevar racked up an additional seven top-20 results and two top-10 results. Mired within the results, he achieved his first top-five result by notching a career-best third-place run at Watkins Glen International in September. The Michigan native would also record a ninth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway in mid-October before he settled in 18th place during the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway, which was enough for him to wrap up the 2024 rookie title in NASCAR’s premier series as he ended up in 21st place in the final championship standings. With a total of 23 top-20 results recorded throughout the 36-race schedule, Hocevar final average-finishing result was 18.3.
By claiming the 2024 rookie title, Hocevar became the first Michigan native to achieve a Cup rookie title since Erik Jones made the last accomplishment in 2017 and the first Chevrolet competitor to do so since Daniel Hemric made the previous accomplishment in 2019. Hocevar also became the first competitor from the Spire Motorsports organization to claim the Cup rookie title.
Hocevar’s closest rival for this year’s Cup rookie title was Josh Berry, who commenced the season by succeeding the 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick in Stewart-Haas Racing’s iconic No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. Berry, who recorded two third-place results and a total of four top-10 results, ended up in 27th place in the final standings. Hocevar’s other rivals for the rookie title included teammate Zane Smith and Kaz Grala. Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion who campaigned in his first full-time Cup season with Spire Motorsports, settled in 30th place in the final standings on the strengths of a career-best runner-up result at Nashville Superspeedway in June along with a total of two top-five results and four top-10 results. Meanwhile, Grala, who campaigned on a part-time basis between Front Row Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing, recorded a total of three top-20 results in 24 starts.
“Being named Sunoco Rookie of the Year is special,” Hocevar said. “I got beat out for Rookie of the Year in the CRAFTSMAN Truck series, and I didn’t run in the Xfinity Series full time so to win the award in the NASCAR Cup Series is a huge accomplishment for our whole team. It definitely didn’t come easy. Josh [Berry] has won a bunch of Xfinity races, and the No. 4 team won tons of races and a championship with [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] and [Kevin] Harvick. We also had Zane [Smith] in contention, who raced for Spire Motorsports and has won several Truck Series races and a championship. It was a good group of accomplished drivers vying for it, and it means a lot to come out on top. We ran really strong at the end of the year and were able to pull away in terms of points. These last several weeks show our capabilities as a team.”
With the rookie title achieved, Hocevar, who is under a multi-year deal with Spire Motorsports, is set to return for a second full-time Cup Series campaign in 2025 and with goals to race his way into Victory Lane for the first time and make the Playoffs.
“This award will be something that will live with me my whole career, and I’m proud to be known as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year,” Hocevar added. “There’s an elite list of guys who have won it, and many of them went on to win races and championships. The award is something you only have one shot at. You can never go back and try to win Rookie or the Year later down the line. It is the only thing like that in racing. It is cool to win something so significant this year, and the mission is now to get the No. 77 car to Victory Lane and in the playoffs in 2025.”
The NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the Busch Light Clash on February 2, 2025. This event will be followed by the 67th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway scheduled for February 16, 2025, to commence a new season of competition.
