Spire Young Guns Impress With Dual Michigan Top 10s

Zane Smith (71) battles Brad Keselowski Monday at Michigan Int'l Speedway. (Ben Earp/NKP photo)

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith continued to show development for Spire Motorsports, both netting top 10s Monday afternoon at Michigan Int’l Speedway and extending an impressive summer for the young NASCAR Cup Series teammates.

Smith ran around the mid-teens throughout the afternoon because of an early speeding penalty, but took advantage of two overtime restarts to power forward and grab his second career top-10 finish in seventh.

“It was definitely a good recovery,” Smith said. “I’m still mad at myself after we sped on pit road once we finally had some good track position. I knew that we were making gains on our Chevy.

“Once we had to start at the back, I was able to get through a lot of them right away. I felt like we learned a lot there getting back through the field, and we made our car even better.”

In the midst of his rookie season, Smith has been on a hot streak as of late. He has three top 20s, his first top five came at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in June, and the 25-year-old has two top 10s in his last six races.

On Monday, the Huntington Beach, Calif., native changed his approach on restarts throughout the race, becoming more and more aggressive as the laps wound down. That mindset helped him catapult his way into the mix late in the final stage.

“I kind of learned something from being back there earlier in the race and was able to apply that to that last restart. I was able to get a few rows and maintain,” he noted. “Then, obviously, I had help from Daniel Suarez with a push to get us to seventh there at the line. That was much appreciated.”

Additionally, Smith has improved with his race craft, learning how to keep all the fenders on his No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as the summer has gone on. One major factor in his improved performance has been completing all of the laps in each race. Smith only has one DNF since May’s All-Star break.

“It’s been a long weekend at Michigan, but all-in-all, it was a great day with our No. 71 Focused Health Chevy,” he said. “We’ll take the momentum and head to Daytona [Int’l Speedway].”

His teammate Carson Hocevar has mirrored the same recent success, at times carrying the flag for Spire Motorsports in results at just 21 years old.

Carson Hocevar (Matthew Thacker/NKP photo)

“We were able to get a top-10 after falling to 35th on Sunday,” said Hocevar, who ended up 10th at the two-mile Michigan oval. “We had a few mechanical problems that were kind of a freak deal, but we were able to really reset and get our No. 77 Premier Security/Zeigler Chevy handling well.

“We put together a really strong run for this team. Really great to finish good at home, but also to have two top-10s, back-to-back. That’s no small feat,” Hocevar added. “We were able to do it at home with a lot of friends and family [in attendance], so that definitely means a lot.”

At his home track, the Portage, Mich., native led three laps, helping propel him to his fourth top 10 and improving his season-long average finishing position of 18th in the process.

Hocevar has finished inside the top 20 in every event except for the Chicago (Ill.) Street Race, where he was 24th, dating back to the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

Also notable on Monday was the fact that it was the first time ever Spire Motorsports had two cars finish inside the top 10 on a non-restrictor plate track. With each week, the Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr-led organization continues to build a firmer foundation for their evolving organization.

“We just had a super strong car and it’s great to have good momentum heading into Daytona, where anything can happen,” Hocevar added.

Although the two are viewed as long shots to win each week, both Hocevar and Smith have impressed in their rookie seasons. The remaining 12 races for both are focused on development as they battle for Sunoco rookie-of-the-year honors with one another, as well as Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry.

The pair will look to continue their growth on a track where Spire Motorsports found its initial success in Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway, where Justin Haley captured the team’s lone Cup Series win to-date.

Smith finished 13th in Feburary’s Daytona 500 and Hocevar has two top 20s in his last two superspeedway races.

Coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 begins Saturday night, Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.