Trackin’ Trucks: Carson Hocevar Wins at Texas
Everything is bigger in Texas, including Carson Hocevar’s first NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series victory. Hocevar earned the win by leading only one lap, the last and most important, during the double overtime finish at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 20-year-old Niece Motorsports driver won by 1.628 seconds over Chase Purdy in a chaotic ending that came at the expense of Nick Sanchez, who dominated Saturday afternoon's race.
Sanchez led 168 of 172 laps before making contact with reigning series champion Zane Smith. Sanchez was able to steady his truck, but not well enough, before getting hit by Hocevar. The contact was just enough to send Sanchez spinning, while also collecting Smith as he went across the track.
“I didn’t mean to get into him, I just meant to give him a push, and he got sideways the second I hit him. I apologize to them; I’ll take the fall for it. I wrecked a Chevy, and I’ll go talk to him about it – he deserved to win for sure,” Hocevar said of the contact with Sanchez.
“But all the times we were the fastest car, and I don’t win, and this team deserves to win more than anything. I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now,” continued Hocevar, who has four career runner-up finishes. “We didn’t deserve to win today, but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
Sanchez finished 16th after the contact with Smith and Hocevar, and he won both stages of the SpeedyCash.com 250.
"Obviously, coming to the last lap, me and the 38 [Zane Smith] were playing an aggressive side-drafting game, and I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass and saved it,” Sanchez said. “Just got hit by the 42 [Hocevar]. I don’t know what else to say about that. It is what it is -- that’s racing.
“This is what we’ve been working hard to do. We don’t want to just win; we want to dominate. Today we dominated, but we didn’t win, so just got to go back and see what I can do better. Try to build on strengths. I guess the positive is we got stage points, that’s something to fall back on. But I want to win, that’s my goal.”
Stewart Friesen finished third, while Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia rounded out the top-five finishers.
Hailie Deegan finished sixth for her first top 10 of the season. Corey Heim finished seventh, while Ryan Vargas, Jack Wood, and Ben Rhodes finished eighth through 10th, respectively.
A Look Ahead
The Craftsman Truck Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday for the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt.
Rhodes is the defending winner of the event, while Hocevar finished second in the event one year ago.
Can Hocevar capitalize on his first career win and score back-to-back victories?
Find out on Saturday, April 8th at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
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Reviewed by Courtney Horn
on
Sunday, April 02, 2023
Rating:
