Strategy & Speed Help Spire Trio Excel At The Glen

Carson Hocevar led Spire Motorsports' strong effort at Watkins Glen International Sunday. (Danny Hansen/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Though Spire Motorsports won a NASCAR Cup Series race in the past, one could say the team fully arrived at the sport’s top level Sunday at Watkins Glen International.

The Spire trio of Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith, and Corey LaJoie all brought home top 10 finishes in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen Cup Series race, the first time in team history the organization earned three top 10s in a single race.

If that wasn’t enough, both Hocevar and Smith finished inside the top five, giving Spire its first set of dual top fives as well in a banner performance.

Hocevar netted his Cup Series career best result with a third-place run, while Smith capped the top five for his second such result of the season.

Not to be forgotten, LaJoie picked up his second top 10 in the past three races with an eighth-place effort, after previously finishing ninth at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway two races ago.

After flipping the first stage to gain track position, Hocevar remained among the top 10 for the majority of the duration, ultimately restarting on the front row for the race’s overtime restart.

He edged out leader Chris Buescher on the green flag to lead lap 90, but was pushed wide in turn one and ultimately slotted in third by the finish.

Asked what he could have done differently in the final laps, Hocevar offered a tight smile.

“I could have had bigger gonads to drive it down in [the corner] deeper like I probably should have,” Hocevar said.

“I knew how bad this car was yesterday. We were 38th; we were horrible. But our Mattress Warehouse No. 77 team was really, really strong and really helped me fight back all day,” he continued. “I did everything I could to have leverage [for late in the race], and then I decided to just give away all my leverage there at the start of overtime. A little frustrated with myself right now, but [crew chief] Luke Lambert is such a good leader of this bunch, and he reminded us that I’m just going to be this much better next year, when this race matters to try and get ourselves in the playoffs.”

“We’ll have a really good notebook [coming back], but also, I’m going to be better and the team’s going to be better so we can capitalize when the opportunity [to race for a win] comes again.”

It was arguably the first time Hocevar had a true shot to get to victory lane in the Cup Series, and he was close – just not quite close enough.

“I just needed some more confidence [going] into turn one,” he noted. “I did everything right, all the way until turn one, and then I just lifted a little too early. When I lost leverage, it was just game over from there, but I had a really good shot for the win.

“We were last in practice with a bunch of issues [Saturday], so I’m just super thankful that we were able to turn the weekend around for the No. 77 Mattress Warehouse Chevy team.”

Hocevar is the only driver in Spire’s lineup who is slated to return to the team in 2025.

Zane Smith in action Sunday at Watkins Glen International. (Danny Hansen/NKP photo)

Just a few spots down the grid sat Smith, who rallied back from a pit road speeding penalty just before the end of stage two to finish fifth. It was his best result since his career-best runner-up at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in late June.

Smith avoided the chaos of three late-race restarts to fight his way back into the top five.

“We started the late-race restarts around 11th, I want to say, and we just had an incredibly fast No. 71 Focused Health Chevy all day. Spire Motorsports brought great race cars,” said the Huntington Beach, Calif., native.

“Appreciate everyone at Focused Health and this whole No. 71 team. I’m mad at myself for my [pit road] penalty. I was just under a tremendous amount of pressure, and I was just trying to execute everything,” he added. “We were able to keep getting positions on those restarts. Just got roughed up there at the end, but fortunately I was able to gain a few spots back.”

LaJoie was another driver who flipped the stage before the first stage break to gain track position, running fifth by halfway and leading two laps during the final cycle of pit stops.

He restarted eighth for overtime and was able to maintain that placing to the finish.

After only 10 top 10s in the first five years of existence for the team co-owned by Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr, that total has more than doubled as of Sunday, with 11 Spire top 10s this season alone.

Spire Motorsports and the NASCAR Cup Series conclude the opening round of the playoffs with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Saturday night, Sept. 21.

Broadcast coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.