Following last Sunday’s Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar received some valuable advice from none other than Mark Martin. Hocevar, a former Winchester 400 winner, is currently in his third full season driving the #77 Chevy Camaro in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Hocevar’s performance at Darlington impressed many, including Martin. The Portage, Michigan, native was initially sent to the back of the pack due to an unapproved adjustment to his car, but he still managed to drive all the way to fourth. The No.77 driver now has two top fives in six starts this season.
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The 23-year-old is often criticized by NASCAR pundits for his racing style. Some say he is too aggressive, others say it’s needed for the sport. However, former NASCAR driver Mark Martin had a different perspective. His advice to Carson Hocevar, as revealed by the driver himself, was (via Hocevar HQ on X):
“Drive like Mark Martin until 25 to go, at 25 to go drive like the hurricane.”
Carson Hocevar stayed out of trouble at Darlington last week, focusing solely on strategy and driving the best he could to close the gap between him and the lead lap cars of polesitter Tyler Reddick and his teammate, Bubba Wallace.
During Stage 2, Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones spun out, bringing out the yellow. Crew chief Luke Lambert chose not to send Hocevar to the pit road. Instead, he used the wave-around rule to bring his driver back on the lead lap. By the end of the stage, Hocevar was 16th.
“I enjoyed it. It seemed like everybody else was fighting it a lot more than me,” Carson Hocevar mentioned in a statement. “So it’s good that I could get around them and make it. If everybody stops driving good, it’s hard to take advantage of your stuff, so I think our stuff was pretty good. The sort of gap of the field allowed me to be able to pull off passes as well.”
Next up for Hocevar is the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on March 29. Fans can watch the race live on FS1 or listen to live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
NASCAR insiders comment on Carson Hocevar’s “smooth” Darlington ride
Tyler Reddick won last week’s Cup Series event at Darlington Raceway and became the third driver in the series history to win four of the first six races of any Cup Series campaign. It was also his first victory at “The Lady in Black”, and 12th overall.
There was another driver who turned eyes that day, and that was Carson Hocevar. At a track like Darlington, where even the most seasoned drivers tend to overdrive corners and get into trouble, the 23-year-old speedster kept his cool and methodically contested for positions.
Many were impressed, including NASCAR insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi. Lauding Hocevar, Gluck said on The Teardown podcast,
“Carson Hocevar came out of pretty much nowhere. He ended up being the lead Chevy, drove all the way to fourth.”
Bianchi agreed. He added,
“Just a smart drive. In a race where it requires patience and maturity and not making mistakes, Carson didn’t do anything. I mean, he was really smooth today. Didn’t get involved in anything.”
Six races into the season, Carson Hocevar sits 13th in points. Reddick leads the championship standings with a 174-point advantage over Hocevar.
Edited by Tushhita Barua
