- Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway marks Spire Motorsports’ first start in the series at the one-mile, concrete oval.
- The ECOSAVE 200 will be televised live on FS1 Friday, May 15 beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The ninth of 25 points-paying races on the 2026 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule will be broadcast live on the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Kyle Busch – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST
- Kyle Busch will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado RST in Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series ECOSAVE 200. The ninth race of the 2026 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series campaign will mark Busch’s fourth start of the 2026 season for Spire Motorsports.
- Busch will pull double duty at Dover this weekend, where he’ll also race the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race.
- Busch’s last three CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at Dover Motor Speedway (‘11, ‘13 and ‘14) have all resulted in victories. Across those three events, the Las Vegas native led a combined 328 laps and completed an event sweep in 2013 by claiming both the Kennametal Pole Award and the race win.
- Last time out at the controls of the No. 7 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevy, the 41-year-old rallied from early-race damage and falling a lap down to finish runner-up in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway where Busch and teammate Carson Hocevar completed a one-two showing for Spire Motorsports.
- In nine CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at the “Monster Mile”, Busch has earned two Kennametal Pole Awards, four victories, four top-five and six top-10 finishes. The veteran driver has led 911 laps at the daunting one-mile oval, including a dominant 2014 win where Busch paced the field for 150 of the race’s 200 laps.
- Among the field of active NASCAR Cup Series drivers, Busch is tied for the most wins at Dover Motor Speedway where he earned victories in 2008, 2010 and 2017.
- HENDRICKCARS.COM is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop more than 30,000 new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protection programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
- Busch will be at the controls of Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-086 Friday afternoon, marking the truck’s fifth start.
Kyle Busch Quote
A three-race win streak at Dover is impressive at any level. With how mentally and physically demanding it is, does it raise your expectations even more and how do you adapt to that?
“It’s kind of crazy that it’s been over 10 years since I’ve raced a truck at Dover. A lot has changed in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series since then. We’ve got the spec motor now and the bodies have changed a couple of times, so it’ll be good to have the 55-minute practice to get a feel for things. One thing I do know is that it’ll be hard to pass, so qualifying up front and keeping track position is going to be important if we want to compete for the win on Friday. We didn’t have the fastest truck at Bristol, but once we stayed out and got up front, we were able to keep the lead for quite a while and put ourselves in contention for the win. Hopefully, I can pick up where I left off at Dover, up front leading a lot of laps and in the end putting our HENDRICKCARS.COM Silverado in Victory Lane.”
Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Brian Pattie
- Brian Pattie stands atop of the No. 7 pit box, an entry that has seen an abundance of all-star caliber drivers behind the wheel across the 2026 season.
- Through the season’s first eight races, the No. 7 team sits second in the division’s owner points standings on the strength of one win, three top-five and five top-10 finishes.
- Pattie led Kyle Busch to his 68th-career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory in February’s Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No. 7 Silverado led a total of 37 laps, including the final seven, to secure Spire Motorsports’ 10th all-time series win.
- The Zephyrhills, Fla., native has called 27 NASCAR Cup Series races at Dover Motor Speedway. His best showing at the one-mile concrete oval came in 2022, when he guided Ricky Stenhouse Jr., to a runner-up finish in the Duramax Drydene 400.
- The 51-year-old guided Joe Nemechek and the No. 87 Chevrolet to Victory Lane in the 2003 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ MBNA Armed Forces Family 200 at Dover Motor Speedway. Nemechek led 30 laps, including the final 22 circuits, en route to the victory.
Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST
- Carson Hocevar will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado RST in Friday’s ECOSAVE 200 at Dover Motor Speedway.
- Hocevar will pull double duty this weekend at Dover, where he’ll also tend to his traditional NASCAR Cup Series duties and wheel Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 MINER Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Sunday’s 350-lap NASCAR All-Star Race.
- In last Friday’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Watkins Glen, the 23-year-old driver spent most of the day in the top 10 until contact initiated by a competitor on a late-race restart sent Hocevar spinning into the inside retaining wall. The damage was deemed too consequential to continue and the team was credited with a 31st-place finish.
- Hocevar currently sits seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings. His one win, three top fives, five top 10s, 342 points scored, average starting position of 10.2 and 14.6 average finish are all career highs through the first 12 points-paying races of the 2026 season.
- The six-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race winner competed last time the series raced at “The Monster Mile” in 2020. Hocevar started 20th and earned a respectable 12th-place finish in just his fourth start in the division.
- The 23-year-old driver, a veteran of 88 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races, has logged one pole, six wins, 24 top fives and 37 top 10s, while leading 843 laps. He made the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs in all his three full-time seasons and earned a spot in the 2023 Championship 4.
- Hocevar will be at the controls of Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-090 Friday afternoon, marking the truck’s fourth start.
- Delaware Life is an insurance and annuity company that empowers financial professionals with a wide array of customizable solutions. A subsidiary of Group 1001 Insurance Holdings LLC, Delaware Life focuses on delivering a seamless experience for advisors. The company understands how important it is to find the right fit for every client, every situation and every individual need. Delaware Life is passionate about equipping advisors with annuities that give their customers peace of mind and a successful future, allowing them to plan, with confidence, for whatever’s next.
Carson Hocevar Quote
What are your thoughts heading into another double duty weekend?
“I’m excited to get back behind the wheel of a truck at Dover. The trucks haven’t been there in a while, so it will be a new experience for a lot of the field. I had the opportunity to run the last race there in 2020, and it was one of my first truck races. A lot has obviously changed since then, so it will be fun to go out there and compete.”
Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Chad Walter
- Chad Walter calls the shots from the No. 77 pit box, an entry that will see multiple all-star caliber drivers behind the wheel throughout the 2026 season.
- In his lone CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race atop the box at Dover, Walter and driver Tyler Ankrum qualified sixth and finished seventh in 2020.
- Between NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, the 54-year-old has racked up seven wins, 56 top fives and 142 top 10s.
- Walter earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Cornell University College of Engineering. During his studies, he played defensive end for the Big Red football team.
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 to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent victory came May 1, 2026, when Carson Hocevar won the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series’ SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.
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.
