Kevin Harvick pressed on whether Carson Hocevar gets his first NASCAR Cup win in 2026

For the second time this season, Carson Hocevar secured a top-four finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. This one came at Darlington, when the Chevrolets in general had a tough day.

Hocevar led the way for Chevy, showing his stuff on a quality afternoon of driving. Once again, it had people wondering. Can Carson Hocevar win a race? And if so, when?

“I think he’s got the speed to win,” Kevin Harvick said on the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast. “I think it’s just a matter of getting over that hump, right? We talk about it with Ty Gibbs. Just getting that first one is so difficult, just knowing what’s going to happen when your team’s in that position to have to make that last pit stop, or you’ve got to make that last restart. At the Daytona 500 he had as good a chance to win that race as anybody.”

Carson Hocevar was wrecked out of the lead on a chaotic final lap at Daytona. However, Sunday’s race at Darlington was much more in control.

Hocevar worked his way up from the back of the pack, then held his own in the top five into the finish. It was an impressive bit of driving.

“Hocevar knocked two toe links off the thing in practice and qualifying, so he had to start at the rear of the race and put himself in position late in the race with the tire strategy,” Harvick said. “Methodically worked himself forward throughout the whole weekend.”

For Harvick, the story on Carson Hocevar is pretty simple. He’s very talented. And he’s starting to give himself more opportunities to win.

“He’s exciting. He’s fast,” Harvick said. “He’s exciting. At a place like Darlington kept the car in one piece all day and was able to give himself and Chevrolet the best finish there at the end.”

Like Harvick, co-host on the podcast Mamba Smith thinks Carson Hocevar is close to breaking through. It’s just a matter of getting the right combination of things to happen on a day that Hocevar has positioned himself well in.

Lately, Hocevar has been positioning himself quite well. Will the win follow?

“Man, Hocevar’s a dog. He’s just a dog,” Smith said. “Watching him drive on Friday in the Truck race, it was just like this guy has no quit and has no regard for anybody else but himself and his team. And he’s going to do whatever he thinks he has to do to win a race.

“I think if he, getting over that hump, the next time he’s in a real position in the Cup Series to win a race, you’ve got to get it. I think he’s going to, as he’s been able to grind out finishes and start maybe a little further back, middle of the day and then make his way toward the front at the end. I think those are things that are going to help him the most.”