KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For the last half lap of Saturday (May 10) night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, the winner had a message for the driver of the truck behind him.
That message – from Carson Hocevar to Layne Riggs — was in the form of a single middle finger held outside the driver-side window.
“It was somewhat friendly,” Hocevar said afterward. “I just wanted to remind him, really, of ‘Hey, I still won it.”
Moments earlier, Hocevar’s No. 7 Chevrolet and Riggs’ No. 38 Ford dove into turns 1 and 2.
Both drivers were looking for their first NASCAR wins of the year, while Hocevar wanted his first win since 2023.
In Riggs’ attempt to get underneath Hocevar to make a last-lap pass, he got into his left-rear quarter panel and both trucks slid up and made minor contact with the wall.
Hocevar gathered up his No. 7 truck and ran away, with his finger out the window.
“I knew it was my last shot to get to him, really, and he’s a really good air blocker, and I did all I could to get to him,” said Riggs, who initially finished second, but would ultimately be disqualified. “But I don’t know how you flip somebody off and you’re mad even though you still won the race. …
“Either way, I had a ball today.”
On pit road, fresh from his third top-five finish of the season, Riggs was all smiles despite the message sent via bird.
“How can you not be happy with second place, strong performance and winning speed?” Riggs said. “You can’t not be happy about it when you have a last-lap scuffle for the win.”
Hocevar, a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver, secured his first win since the penultimate 2023 Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It came after a year-and-a-half of causing a ruckus among his competitors, including in last weekend’s Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hocevar led the final 35 laps around the 1.5-mile track and 75 total laps, while also winning stage two. That came after he had to charge through the field following an early pit penalty.
“It’s really big,” Hocevar said of the win, which came after having to watch “a handful of victory celebrations” at Spire Motorsports’ shop for teammates.
“I think that was really, really important for me, for not only reps, (but also) confidence,” Hocevar added.
Earlier in the day, he qualified 22nd for Sunday’s (May 11) Cup race, a week after earning his first career pole.
“(I was) just kind of down on myself,” Hocevar said. “Now I’m even hungrier to come back and try and sweep the weekend.”
Daniel McFadin is a 10-year veteran of the NASCAR media corp. He wrote for NBC Sports from 2015 to October 2020. He currently works full time for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and is lead reporter and an editor for Frontstretch. He is also host of the NASCAR podcast "Dropping the Hammer with Daniel McFadin" presented by Democrat-Gazette.
You can email him at danielmcfadin@gmail.com.