Carson Hocevar capped off a busy triple-header weekend of racing at Daytona International Speedway by being in a prime position to win his first Daytona 500 event until a spin on the final lap derailed his hopes to commence the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The 23-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, initially commenced this year’s Daytona Speedweeks by being the 29th-fastest competitor during Wednesday’s pole qualifying run. He greatly improved his starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500 event to sixth place after finishing in second place behind Chase Elliott during the second America 250 Florida Duel event on Thursday.
Hocevar then endured a pair of rough outcomes during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ season-opening events at Daytona between Friday and Saturday. During the Truck event, where he competed with Spire Motorsports, he won the first stage period, but was involved in three separate spins, most of which occurred due to blowing rear tires and retiring in 35th place of the 37-truck field due to suspension issues. Hocevar then competed with Young’s Motorsports for the O’Reilly opener at Daytona on Saturday. After being involved in two separate incidents, he managed to finish in 20th place of the 38-car field.
With Sunday’s Daytona 500 event next on his schedule, Hocevar was shuffled towards the midpack region, which he spent for the majority of the first stage period. Through a late cycle of green flag pit stops, Hocevar opted to strategically remain on the track for stage points. Ultimately, he racked up seven by settling in fourth place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 65. In addition, Hocevar’s teammates at Spire Motorsports, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell, also racked up stage points by finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.
Shuffled back to 18th place to commence the second stage period, Hocevar mirrored his run throughout the first stage period by racing within the midpack region. After dodging two multi-car wrecks, he settled in 24th place to cap off the stage on Lap 130. Restarting in 17th place to commence the final stage period with 65 laps remaining, Hocevar was still mired within the mid-pack region on the leaderboard, but was racing amongst the leaders through tight three-wide formation.
Then, after strategically pitting under green for a final time for fuel with less than 15 laps remaining, Hocevar cycled up to the front of the pack. With nine laps remaining, he was scored in third place when a late caution that flew with nine laps remaining jumbled up the field for a late shootout. During a four-lap shootout, Hocevar drafted with teammate Michael McDowell, starting with three laps remaining as the former pushed the latter to the lead for two laps. Hocevar then used a run through the backstretch to overtake McDowell and lead with two laps remaining.
Shortly after leading the final lap, Hocevar got turned off the front nose of Erik Jones. The contact caused Hocevar to slap the outside wall before he spun back across the track and through the frontstretch’s infield, where he was just dodged by McDowell before both McDowell and Jones would also spin. With a last-lap opportunity to win both the Daytona 500 and his first Cup Series career event evaporated from the spin, Hocevar nursed his No. 77 Spectrum/Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to an 18th-place result.
Hocevar’s 18th-place result marks his career-best result in the Daytona 500 after he previously finished 40th and 30th, respectively, during his first two starts in the Great American Race. Combined with seven stage points, Hocevar is ranked in ninth place with 36 points to commence the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season and his season-long pursuit to make his first-ever Chase.
Amid the disappointment, Hocevar was left pleased with being in contention of winning his first Daytona 500 event as he shifts his focus towards next weekend’s event at EchoPark Speedway, a track where Hocevar achieved his career-best Cup result of second place a year ago.
“I don’t really know what happened, other than I felt like I got a good shot in the rear, but they’re a little offset,” Hocevar said on FOX. “I was just trying to just get our lane rolling, but really proud of these [No. 77] guys. At least it wasn’t a tire or a motor or some other freak deal. He went on to say, “I go to bed in the night knowing that and knowing that I don’t know what I would really do different.”
“I was just really proud of our effort and our car, felt like we could push no matter who it was to lead and go forward, and then run lanes, but I was a lot better pushing. Just felt like we were gonna be in a good shot and felt really good about today and it was so close. Thank goodness Dan Towers [CEO of TWG Motorsports] and Jeff Dickerson [co-owner of Spire Motorsports] believe in me and they get to let me have a lot more shots at this Daytona 500 thing. Besides the year, that’s good points, and between the Duel and the stage and then, having a shot with our speed and going to a track I really like. Hopefully, we can make something of this.”
Carson Hocevar’s 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, February 22, for the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
