Top Dog: Carson Hocevar
On the heels of a chaotic finish at the Richmond Raceway, any driver not named Austin Dillon, Joey Logano or Denny Hamlin will be lucky to be talked about in the NASCAR garage this week. However, a couple of underdog drivers put together solid races in Richmond, with 21-year-old Carson Hocevar chief among them.
Hocevar’s eighth-place finish on Sunday (Aug. 10) marks his eighth top-20 finish in the last nine races, and ties St. Louis earlier in the season for the best finish of Hocevar’s rookie Cup Series campaign.
Hocevar’s respectable qualifying effort (19th) was extremely important at a track where it’s notoriously hard to pass. Despite varying pit strategies by the field, Hocevar’s stage finishes of 16th and ninth, respectively, reflect one of the most consistent runs of the young driver’s Cup Series career. Consistency in any form in modern day NASCAR is an admirable trait, especially for a driver with as much firepower as Hocevar.
Hocevar was running ninth when the white flag waved, and thanks to a spinning Logano, inherited the eighth spot in the race’s final moments. Most importantly? Hocevar now moves into the first spot in the Cup Series Rookie of the Year Standings, sitting 23rd in points, two markers above fellow rookie Josh Berry.
Quiet, solid races for Hocevar and crew chief Luke Lambert are especially exciting to see for a young team, and with those finishes becoming the norm, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Hocevar jump up into the top 20 in points by year’s end.
Hocevar’s top 10 run at Richmond also represents the best finish for the Portage, Mich. native at the 0.75-mile short track, as he finished 27th in his Richmond debut on March 31.
Notable Underdog Runs
Unfortunately for every underdog not named Carson Hocevar, Richmond bore little fruit. To nobody’s surprise, however, Todd Gilliland was once more a beacon of light for the little guys, as a 17th-place finish keeps him above his Front Row Motorsports teammate, Michael McDowell, in the points standings. Gilliland only trails Kyle Busch by 11 points for 20th, and if his consistency keeps up with him, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the third-year driver finish top 20 in the standings, either.
Zane Smith (23rd), Ty Dillon (26th), Justin Haley (27th), Erik Jones (29th), Daniel Hemric (30th), John Hunter Nemechek (31st), Harrison Burton (32nd), Riley Herbst (33rd), Corey LaJoie (34th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (36th) make up the rest of the underdog field.
Stenhouse was the only driver of the group to make any noise on Sunday, though said noise was a hard impact with the wall to set up the controversial finish.
With two laps to go, it was Stenhouse who tangled with Ryan Preece going into turn one, ending Stenhouse’s day and relegating him to a 36th-place finish.
Parker Retzlaff finished 35th in his NASCAR Cup Series debut for MBM Motorsports.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.