NASCAR Cup Series
Chase Media Day
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
September 2, 2026
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Media Day Quotes
On the extra noise/attention:
“Whether we run good or bad, there always seems to be some sort of talking point. But I enjoy it, I think it’s funny a lot of times. Hopefully it’s entertaining for the fans and TV and everybody. I’d much rather talk about something than nothing.”
On whether he’s changed:
“I haven’t really had to change much. I just always think it’s crazy that anybody would buy any merch. At Daytona, I decided I’d go get a Kona Ice and just take my golf cart, and the guys around me were freaking out that I was going to go by myself without security. It doesn’t click that there would be a crowd. I could probably get away with saying some answers now that I wouldn’t have been able to before, so it’s been fun.”
On the incident in the regular season finale race at Daytona:
“Everybody I talked to said there’s a lot less downforce on the nose and a lot more lift behind people. Preece even went on podcasts saying it almost happened to him. I’d never gotten loose at a superspeedway in this car before, normally you’re always super stuck. My spotter was laughing, saying it looked like I blew a tire. These cars are super aero-sensitive, and once it got loose, it was over. I moved about 30 feet earlier in the corner, but I wasn’t all the way in the banking to put load on the front. I’d do it the same way all over again, knowing what I knew then, but I’d be a little more aware of it now.”
On the No. 77 team’s mentality heading into the Chase:
“Our team moral or motto is we’re playing with house money. Luke (Lambert) and Matt McCall were on that 31 team in 2014, and that’s how they approached it, and they finished second. I’m not going to look at the points until the end. They’ll let me know when I walk up at the banquet where I finished.”
On the tracks in the Chase:
“The faster tracks are better for us. Talladega is exciting. The most difficult one is going to be Martinsville for us, but all the other ones, we’ve run top-five or top-10. I feel good about them excitement-level wise.”
Inaudible…
“I think it’s been healthy for all of them. They’ve been wanting to do that for a long time, and that’s been very good. There’s been a lot of turnaround on the 7 car, so it’s great for the 7 team that they are getting some positive reinforcement.”
On the Days of Thunder 2 Announcement:
“That was actually the first time I met him (Tom Cruise). We were trying to line up with his team on when to meet him, and his security guard came and grabbed me and stood me right in front of him. I was talking to the sailors earlier, and they were fans of me. He was going down the line of sailors and kind of glanced over to see if there was another one. He looked back and realized it was me. They were telling me, “When he sees you, he’s going to recognize you. He loves you.” That’s super cool, that’s fun. It’s been super cool to put my input into the movie; give ideas and video clips from real-life moments from the last 20 years that haven’t known have existed.”
On racing for the fans:
“I’m a fan myself, and we race for the fans. We appreciate them. I’m thankful my owner lets me do the fun things I do. He appreciates them (fans) just as much as I do. We get to race how I want to race, and that seems to be entertaining. I want to make this journey and Cup thing as fun as I want to make it. If I’m having fun, I think a lot of people enjoy watching me have fun.”
On starting the Chase at Darlington, where he’s had good results:
“That helps. I’m excited for that because we started last at that race, too. Darlington has been a good for us. We finished ninth last year and spun out at one point because we were so bad. We made a lot of adjustments that day and I’m looking forward to Darlington because it’s a really fun one to race.”
On balancing the fun and competition:
“The day before we won Talladega, we took three $500 cars and raced the hell out of them a dirt bike track. Mine blew up, so we put it at the top of the hill, put a rock on the gas pedal and sent it off a cliff just to see what happens, and we won the next day. (Sarcastically) I guess I was pretty distracted there too, but it worked out. Not everybody sees that side of things. From a racer’s perspective, there always has to be a reason for anything, whether you’re running good or bad, magically, “if you look at the data five more minutes, you’ll go faster.” I just enjoy it. It’s just common for me to have fun and perform well while doing it.”
About General Motors
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