NASCAR
Carson Hocevar Takes Second Career Win at Nashville
LEBANON, Tenn. – For the second time this season, Carson Hocevar is a Craftsman Truck Series winner. The Niece Motorsports No. 42 Chevrolet was not the class of the field, failing to lead until the final 40 laps. When it came to crunch time though, Hocevar stood tall in victory lane. Nashville also marked the third and final Triple Truck Challenge race, giving Hocevar a nice $50,000 bonus.
Zane Smith started eighth but slowly moved forward in Stage 1, eventually taking this win by two seconds. Stage 2 would go to Corey Heim, who took command off pit road between Stages. Both Stages were kept interesting with tight racing for the lead between a trio of drivers.
Similar to the previous Stages a new contender emerged in the final run to the checkers–Carson Hocevar. On the restart to begin Stage 3 the No. 42 took the lead from the high lane and began to drive off into the night.
Only a caution inside the final 10 laps gave the field another shot at Hocevar. With only three laps left on the final restart, the 42 had a perfect jump and held off Zane Smith for career win number two.
The Nashville win only adds onto an incredible career-best streak of five top-fives for Hocevar. Now with two wins, is a championship run forming for Hocevar?
“I enjoy this a lot right now, especially because of these fans,” Hocevar said. “They were all cheering and hollering or booing, who cares? I’m so excited I get to hold a trophy.
“I led it to the white and carried it around. Can finally give that a rest and hopefully that silences any doubters.
“I hope Al Niece lets me drive the truck for a long time, because I want to win a lot of races for him. In the meantime hopefully we win a lot more races everywhere else under the sun in any car I get in. I’m just thankful that I have owners and people like Worldwide Express, who weren’t there at Texas. Phil Gould (Crew Chief) is just a magician with these things. Just glad I’m finally being able to put together a fraction of what he deserves.”
Behind Hocevar, the top-10 were: Zane Smith, Nick Sanchez, Corey Heim, Bayley Currey, Chase Purdy, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Ankrum, Ben Rhodes, and Jake Garcia. Hear from some of these top finishers below.
Only three races remain until the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoff field is set. After an off-week, the Trucks return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150. The green flag will fly Saturday, July 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Mid-Ohio is the last road course and only has one past Truck race from last year. With that in mind, an upset winner could be in the cards to spoil the Playoff picture.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Logan Riely/Getty Images for NASCAR
