Carson Hocevar Hopes Rivals “Burn Themselves Down” In the Playoffs

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season so far has been impressive for Carson Hocevar despite controversies. He is currently sitting P11 in the table, with one win and nine top-10s from 24 starts. If not for some wild incidents or penalties in the remaining two races of the regular season, he would make it into chase as a top-10 driver.

Ahead of this Sunday’s Richmond Race, where he finished at a disappointing P37, he talked about what Spire needs to do to make the No:77 Chevy fast enough to be a contender. He admitted that they are limited to what they can do to the Chevy’s to make them better, as they have done a lot in the last 26 weeks but none of those changes were enough to match Toyota’s pace.

I think it’s a little different if we have a little different body style. [A body style] that’s been the dominant one this year. That you can get a little bit more, but knowing that it’s going to have to come to us. If we knew that there was any more juice to squeeze out of these cars for our program and everything, we would have done that 26 weeks ago.

Carson Hocevar said ahead of Richmond race.

Further talking about the point, Carson Hocevar asserted that at the moment he is one of the cars that are next in line in the contender ship hierarchy and joked that he is hoping for his rivals to burn themselves down so that he could take advantage of the opportunity.  He later admitted that both Chevy and Ford team are working hard behind the scenes to match the pace of the Toyota’s.

I think it’s just continue to do what we’re doing and try to be next in line and hope they slow each other down when they’re racing within their own shop, and hopefully they burn themselves down, and we’re next in line…I don’t know. Just inch at it piece by piece, a little bit of speed here, a little bit of pace here and there. It’ll come to you, but it seems like everybody’s catching one manufacturer basically right now. It’s just trying to get our cars as best as they can be really.

Carson Hocevar added via Frontstretch.

Carson Hocevar insists chase was always Spire’s plan in 2026

Later talking about their goal coming into the season, the youngster insisted that they were looking to be contenders despite being a B-Level side unlike Hendrick Motorsports. The youngster insisted that he is not being arrogant with the comment, as the team wants to be in the chase for the title as soon as they could.

Yeah, I could have, but that sounds cocky and arrogant when you say it, but that’s the goal. We want to be up front. We want to be contenders. We want to be up front. Everybody that’s came over to the shop, the 200-plus employees, they don’t plan on ***** forever. They plan on being contenders at some point.

Carson Hocevar said.

Further talking about the point, he admitted that he is not happy with the fact that he isn’t one of the top-3 drivers in the championship chase and is among the fringe top-10 guys. This shows the winning mentality of the Chevy driver.

I would care a lot more if it was first and second, not fifth or sixth or wherever we’re at or seventh or eighth now. So yeah, I think we’d both be happier if it was for first and second.

Carson Hocevar added.

An unfortunate wreck earlier in the second stage on Saturday night ruined the momentum Hocevar was building the last few weeks. With two more races left in the season, he would be hoping for redemption stating next Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Also Read: Kurt Busch Reveals His Honest Thoughts on “Aggressive Racer” Carson Hocevar