Richmond’s Option Tire Propels Hocevar To Eighth

Carson Hocevar (77) battles Austin Cindric at Richmond Raceway. (Rusty Jarrett/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

RICHMOND, Va. – Carson Hocevar took advantage of tire compound strategy to net his third top-10 finish of the season with an eighth-place run in Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

The Portage, Mich., native tied his best career NASCAR Cup Series finish in the process in just his 32nd start.

Hocevar is in his rookie campaign with the young Spire Motorsports team, and quietly overtook Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry in the battle for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors by a two-point margin.

Despite a wild finish which featured Austin Dillon wrecking both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin en route to victory lane, it was tire strategy that landed Hocevar in the top 10.

NASCAR introduced a softer-compound ‘option’ tire in regular-season competition for the first time Sunday after it was first tested during the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway back in May, opening up bold strategy possibilities for teams to capitalize on.

Guided by crew chief Luke Lambert, Hocevar started the race in 19th and utilized his allotted sets of ‘option’ Goodyear Eagles to gain track position and break into the top 10, scoring stage points along the way with a ninth-place effort in the second stage.

He drifted back slightly during the final stage, but Hocevar was able to avoid the chaos ahead of him during the race’s lone overtime restart, navigating back forward into a positive position.

“The No. 77 Delaware Life Camaro ZL1 was pretty good,” Hocevar said. “We didn’t qualify great, but we were able to get to the top-15 and then top-10 there on the long run.

“From where we were in the spring and where we have been on short tracks, this is huge for us. To run top-10 is pretty big and just to have a really good turnaround from almost high 20s to a single-digit finish here is really big for the Delaware Life/Spire Chevrolet team,” he added.

Though he’s outside of a chance to race for the playoffs on points, ranking 22nd in the standings and 173 markers back of the cutoff line, Hocevar did gain two spots by virtue of his Richmond efforts.

And as Dillon proved with his breakthrough triumph Sunday night, all it takes is a trophy for a driver like Hocevar to catapult themselves into championship contention.

Hocevar heads north to his home track next as the NASCAR Cup Series takes on the two-mile Michigan Int’l Speedway on Aug. 18. Broadcast coverage of the FireKeepers Casino 400 begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.