Race Notes:
- Carson Hocevar won the SpeedyCash.com 250, his sixth victory in 87 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races. It was his first victory and third top-10 finish in 2026, and second victory and third top-10 finish in five races at Texas Motor Speedway.
- Kyle Busch (second) posted his 12th top-10 finish in 16 races at Texas Motor Speedway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2026.
- Hocevar and Busch earned Spire Motorsports’ third one-two finish in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition. The most recent occurrence was in February’s Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Busch bested Hocevar.
Kyle Busch – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 6TH
FINISH: 2ND
OWNER POINTS: 1ST
Kyle Busch battled back from an early incident in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, which saw him make contact with the wall and go a lap down, to battle for the win in the closing laps before ultimately finishing runner-up to his Spire teammate Carson Hocevar in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch started sixth and was battling side-by-side for position when the HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado RST slid up the track and made contact with the outside wall, causing damage to the right-side fender wells. The talented wheelman settled into the 10th position despite the contact, but four laps later he felt a tire going down and made his way down pit road for right-side tires. After the team cleared the fenders, the six-time Texas winner returned to the track and finished the opening stage one lap down in the 31st position.
Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie summoned his driver to pit road between stages for further damage repair and a fresh set of left-side tires. The Las Vegas native was in position for the free pass when a caution waved 20 laps into Stage 2. Before visiting pit road, he reported that his Chevrolet was better, but still needed adjustments in order to make his way forward.
Busch restarted 28th and continued to push forward, ultimately completing the second stage in the 16th spot.
After restarting 17th, Busch immediately made his way into the top 10 in the opening laps of the Final Stage. He stalled out at the ninth position as the field began green-flag pit stops on Lap 121. Pattie was the second-to-last crew chief to call his driver to pit road, hoping it would give his team a tire advantage for the end of the event. A speedy four-tire stop moved Busch up to the sixth position when stops had cycled through with 35 laps remaining. A slew of cautions would ensue, allowing the two-time Cup Series champion to move up the running order prior to a caution on Lap 157 that brought out the red flag. When the yellow flag was once again displayed, Busch lined up on the outside of the front row, next to Hocevar. The eighth caution of the night set up overtime, with the No. 7 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet lining up on the inside of the third row. Busch catapulted from fifth to second and crossed the line 0.730 seconds behind Hocevar in the runner-up position. The hard-fought second-place result allowed the No. 7 team to retain the lead in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner standings. After seven races, the team leads the No. 11 by two tallies.
Kyle’s Post-Race Comments
“We had an eventful night, but Brian (Pattie) and everybody made some really good calls on this HENDRICKCARS.COM Silverado and got us a lot faster there at the end. We fired off really good on that final set of tires and had a lot of speed during the long green-flag run. We were really fast. The quickest truck on the track. We finally got the grip in the truck that I was looking for. So that moon thing doesn’t, doesn’t really work. It took too long for all that to come in and we came up a little short in the end. Thanks to Dan (Towriss), Jeff (Dickerson) and Rick (Hendrick), and everybody at Spire for letting me have this chance to go out and have some fun in the Truck Series.”
Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 11TH
FINISH: 1ST
OWNER POINTS: 8TH
Carson Hocevar, driver of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet Silverado RST, secured his sixth CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory in Friday evening’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hocevar paced the field five times for a career-high 76 laps.
Hocevar qualified 11th but wasted no time moving forward, reaching the fourth position before a Lap-23 caution. He restarted fourth with 12 laps remaining in Stage 1, and despite a spirited battle with race leader Ben Rhodes, settled for the second position in the opening segment. During the ensuing stage break, veteran crew chief Chad Walter brought his driver down pit road for four tires and a slight air pressure adjustment to address a slight loose-handling Silverado.
The Portage, Mich., native restarted Stage 2 in 12th on Lap 47 but made quick work of the field, reaching fifth by Lap 48 and moving into the runner-up spot two circuits later on Lap 50. Hocevar took the lead on Lap 59 and paced the field for the next 17 laps until a caution on Lap 75 sent the majority of the field to pit road. The slow down set up a two-lap sprint to the green-and-white checkered flag, and despite lining up sixth for the restart, Hocevar took the lead in just one lap, driving off to the Stage 2 win. His effort in the opening 80 laps of the event accumulated 19 stage points, the most of any team in the field, which will aid in the No. 77 crew’s pursuit of a CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owners’ championship.
The 23-year-old driver led the field at the start of the Final Stage, holding the position for another 37 laps before relinquishing the top spot to hit pit road for service under green-flag conditions on Lap 121. An issue on pit road during the stop caused the team to lose the lead during the green-flag pit cycle, returning to the track in fourth, six seconds behind the leader. Fortunately, a Lap-145 caution brought Hocevar to the tailgate of the lead trio. After returning to racing action on Lap 149, he made the move for the top spot once again in just four laps. Hocevar survived multiple late-race restarts, including one NASCAR Overtime attempt, to snag his sixth career victory in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series just five days removed from his career-first NASCAR Cup Series win.
Carson’s Post-Race Comments
“This is unbelievable, it means a lot. We are going to go burn down a Chili’s somewhere here in Texas. What a fun race. It is cool to get another Spire Motorsports one-two finish, but we had to reverse the order from Atlanta a couple months back. I’ve watched Kyle (Busch) win a lot of truck races, so it is fun to put an end to his Texas streak.
“I could say the difference tonight was the driver in the seat, but we were just really good on restarts. The No. 77 team has done a really good job. It has been a struggle the last couple races, we just haven’t had the race-winning speed we are expecting to have. I am so thankful to get it done here.”
Up Next…
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series heads to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on Friday, May 8. The Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen will be televised live on FS1 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
The eighth of 25 points-paying races on the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar will be broadcast live on the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
To stay up-to-date on all the latest news and exclusive content, follow Spire Motorsports on Facebook, X and Instagram, and visit Spire-Motorsports.com.
About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.
The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado its first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came April 27, 2026, when Carson Hocevar earned his inaugural Cup Series win in the Jack Links 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
In 2026, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization will also field the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.
