Race Notes:
- Kyle Busch earned his 68th victory in 181 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races in Saturday’s Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was his ninth victory and third-consecutive win for Spire Motorsports at Atlanta.
- Carson Hocevar (second) posted his first top-10 finish in four races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- Busch and Hocevar earned Spire Motorsports’ second one-two finish in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition. The first came in 2025 at Kansas Speedway with Hocevar taking the win, followed by William Byron in second.
- Spire Motorsports now owns 10 wins, 37 top-five and 76 top-10 finishes in 188 starts in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
Kyle Busch – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 3RD
FINISH: 1ST
OWNER POINTS: 2ND
Kyle Busch, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series’ all-time wins leader, collected his 68th career-win in Saturday’s Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch led four times for a total of 37 laps, including the final seven laps, en route to his ninth-overall and third-consecutive triumph at Atlanta in NASCAR’s third division.
Busch began the race from third and maintained that position until the conclusion of the 40-lap opening stage. He reported that his HENDRICKCARS.COM Silverado was “a little darty” before getting four fresh Goodyear tires and Sunoco Racing Fuel between stages and exiting pit road in the second position. The Las Vegas native reported a bad vibration as he battled near the middle of the top 10 throughout Stage 2. Busch made a move to the inside line and dropped to 11th before battling back to the fifth position at stage end.
Busch elected to line up on the inside of the second row when the Final Stage went green on Lap 90. Spire teammate Carson Hocevar would give the 40-year-old driver a momentous push to the lead shortly before a the caution flag waved with 35 laps remaining to the scheduled distance. Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie alerted his driver that NASCAR would finish the race within a set time in order to begin the second event in Saturday’s double-header.
After a lengthy caution, Busch elected to take the top lane for the Lap-107 restart with Hocevar lined up in his mirror. The field took the green flag with nine minutes remaining and Busch, with the aid of Hocevar playing wingman, would bring home Spire’s 10th-career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory.
Kyle’s Post-Race Comments
“There’s just so much going on throughout the race. You’re just trying to protect your lane. You’re trying to get the slingshot, and when we needed the slingshot to get back to the front, those guys were trying to use it on us. Carson Hocevar was a great teammate today. You got to have a teammate in this sort of thing. And until it gets really, really spread out on a 50 lap run or whatever, you don’t get a chance to have separation. You end up having to race it out in a group. But as we got towards the end, we started working together, and we started being able to maneuver our way through the end of the second stage. There I was behind him, pushing him. We were able to ratchet forward. And then there at the end, he was my wingman. Huge thanks to HENDRICKCARS.COM. Thanks to Spire Motorsports, Gainbridge, Brian Pattie and all these guys on the No. 7 team. We’ll go for another one here in a few weeks.”
Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 18TH
FINISH: 3RD
OWNER POINTS: 8TH
Carson Hocevar, driver of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado RST, worked with teammate Kyle Busch in the late stages of Saturday’s FR8 Racing 208 to propel the organization to their second one-two finish, crossing the finish line in second place.
Hocevar qualified 18th, but started 12th after multiple teams were sent to the tail for unapproved adjustments. He worked forward from the drop of the green flag, breaking into the top 10 by the end of the Lap 1. In the midst of the first stage, the Portage, Mich., native was squeezed into the fence, dealing fender damage to his Silverado. Despite the damage, Hocevar finished Stage 1 in fourth, racking up seven stage points to aid in the team’s bid for a CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner’s championship.
During the ensuing round of full-service pit stops under caution, the Delaware Life crew also removed a piece of tape from the front grill to alleviate overheating issues encountered while pushing Busch earlier in the event. Hocevar restarted ninth, but once again, worked forward quickly. The No. 77 team concluded Stage 2 in third, totaling 15 stage points on the day.
A four-tire pit stop meant the Delaware Life Chevy was fifth for the Lap-88 restart, but worked to the second position by Lap 90, directly behind Busch. Despite encountering a Lap-101 caution and facing stiff competition by their opponents, the pairing remained one-two for the remainder of the event.
Carson’s Post-Race Comments
“It’s crazy to think how we maybe weren’t on the best terms at the end of the Cup race here a year ago, but we worked together really well today. I didn’t think I’d ever be this excited for a Kyle Busch truck win, but when Spire Motorsports, Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports get to celebrate, I’m happy. My team kept warning me on my water temperature, but continued to give me the green light to push. The overheating kind of kept me from racing it out with him, but if I didn’t have a shot, I wanted to make sure the company had a shot. I went over there during his burnout to give him a high five. I thought it would be a cool picture the Spire Marketing team could use on social. That was a business decision, but it was a lot of fun.”
Up Next…
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season continues on Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The inaugural OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 will be televised live on FOX at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).
The third 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 on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
In 2026, Spire Motorsports will campaign 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.
