Carson Hocevar earns first top-10 finish of Cup Series career, establishes himself as top rookie
Among the rookie competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series, Carson Hocevar has earned his first top-10 finish and first among his peers. Hocevar is establishing himself as the top rookie in the 2024 season.
Carson Hocevar has been by far the most consistent rookie. A lot of people, myself included, thought that Josh Berry would be the more consistent driver, with Hocevar having the highest ceiling. Two top-15 finishes and a top-10 now to his record, Hocevar is off to a strong start.
Compared to Berry, Zane Smith, and Kaz Grala, Hocevar has separated himself. The Spire Motorsports driver has an average finish of 21.33 this season and is 22nd overall in the points standings.
Berry is second best with a couple of top-12 finishes and an average finish of 24.33, sitting 26th in the points. Grala is next with an average finish of 27 this season and 33rd in the points. Then we have Smith who has struggled. Average finish of 28.88 and 35th in the points. The last position among the full-time drivers.
A huge day for this No. 77 team. A lot of hard work going on at Spire Motorsports. It is the first top-10 for this organization on a non-drafting oval. All of their other top-10 finishes came on superspeedways or a road course.
While there were questions about Hocevar’s maturity, it hasn’t been an issue this year. It seems that he knows he has to keep his head down and just work. Once he earns the respect of the garage, things will only get easier for Hocevar and his team.
Last season Carson Hocevar took that awful Legacy Motor Club Chevy equipment and earned a handful of top-20 finishes. Something no one else could seem to do in that 42 car in 2023. Now he’s in his own car and more or less picking up where he left off.
Carson Hocevar has good tracks coming up
Now, we have a small sample size when it comes to Cup Series starts. However, Kansas, Darlington, Charlotte, and Gateway are coming up on the schedule. Carson Hocevar is strong on these 1.5-mile tracks. He was in the Truck Series and limited starts in the Xfinity Series, and he has been so far in the Cup Series.
In the Truck Series, Hocevar has three top-5 finishes at Darlington and a top-10 from the Xfinity Series. He has a top-5 and top-10 in the Truck Series at Kansas in the Truck Series as well as a couple of top-5s at Charlotte and a top-10 from the Xfinity Series.
In the Cup Series last year, Hocevar finished P17 at Darlington and P20 at Kansas in subpar cars. Let’s not forget he was running top-15 for Spire at Gateway, replacing Corey LaJoie, before a brake rotor blew up.
Keep an eye on Carson Hocevar. When he starts to get a hang of things, he can really step it up to the next level. He has shown an increased maturity and patience this season. That can go a long way. As these other intermediate tracks pop up, even going all the way to Nashville later this summer, Hocevar has opportunities to impress and stretch out his lead in the Rookie of the Year campaign.