KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It often feels as if every time Carson Hocevar takes a step forward in his NASCAR Cup career, he immediately steps on a rake … or two.
Or he trips over his own firesuit. Or a trap door opens beneath him.
Or a combination of the three.
Hocevar came close to winning his first career Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February. But not before he angered his own mentor, Ross Chastain, and 2023 champion Ryan Blaney in the process with his aggressive racing.
He failed to finish the Daytona 500 (fuel pressure), at Phoenix Raceway (wreck) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (engine).
“If you were to pick your poison, I’d much rather be fast and have bad luck or misfortune or something happen, than be slow and have to bank on other people’s misfortune, right?” Hocevar said. “We need to do everything in our power not to take ourselves out or put ourselves in a bad spot because the universe right now is already doing that for us.
“We just have to not compound those or get too aggressive and make a mistake when we get put back there or something happens.”
Then came last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
Making his first Craftsman Truck Series start since 2023, Hocevar was running second when he had to pit for battery issues and finished two laps down.
“I thought I tricked the universe into getting the bad luck out on (a Saturday) and not on a Sunday,” Hocevar said.
The next day, Hocevar won his first career Cup pole and led 22 laps. On lap 237, not realizing a car was on his outside, he slammed Ryan Preece into the outside wall and wrecked, finishing 24th.
His second time around on the Cup Series circuit has already had more drama than most drivers have in one season.
It’s provided good material from his competitors, including Preece.
“He just seems to be proving me right over and over again,” Preece said after emerging from the care center following the crash. “Just got ran into the fence by somebody that has no respect for his equipment, anybody else’s equipment, and any other driver out there. He’ll have his day.”
Tell us how you really feel, Ryan.
In the week since Texas, the Spire Motorsports driver reached out to Preece in an attempt to mend a fence that was first ruptured three years ago in a Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I thought it was very productive,” Hocevar said Saturday at Kansas Speedway of their conversation. “I thought he heard my point of view and I heard his, right? I think we have a really good understanding to go forward. I just kind of explained my positioning of it.”
Hocevar said he wasn’t trying to put Preece in “a bad spot and be aggressive,” and was on offense when he didn’t know he should have been on defense.
“I feel like I drive a lot off instinct and so if I’m not focused on something, you can just be tunnel vision and miss it,” Hocevar said. “I think for me, it’s just being able to balance that. And then also to explain that and make sure they know there was an intent of the move.”
Later Saturday, Preece was asked about the “productive” conversation with Hocevar.
“It’s going to be up to him to hopefully do the things that he said when we talked to each other and to prove to everybody around that he’s just going to make a better decision,” Preece said. “And I hope he does.”
Preece said he told Hocevar he’s “a good racer” when their conversation took place.
He also said that he believes Hocevar “means what he’s saying.”
When asked about the tribulations Hocevar has experienced this year, his teammate Michael McDowell said it was product of the speed Spire Motorsports has so far in 2025.
“Anytime that you’re running with the speed that we have right now, you’re going to be in those spots where you’re challenging for wins and you’re challenging for top fives,” McDowell said. “And you’re mixing it up with people that maybe aren’t used to you mixing it up with. You learn the etiquette, the do’s and don’ts. Sometimes you’re on the good side of it, sometimes you’re on the wrong side of it.
“I think the most important thing is just how you handle it moving forward.”
Even with his minor successes this year, does Hocevar sometimes feel as if he’s pushing a boulder up a hill given his setbacks?
“I feel like we’re getting it out of the way,” Hocevar said. “There’s plenty of things that are self-inflicted — [like] when they drop the jack or the motor breaks because of a part failure. … Ultimately, you just gotta get those out of the way. So you just have your processes in place. You eliminate potential issues.”
While he does think the No. 77 team is getting “closer” to a breakthrough, Hocevar doesn’t foresee an upcoming race where he can be the dominant driver and secure a win.
“I think it’ll be a shock if we do dominate a race,” said Hocevar, before noting McDowell came close to winning at Texas. “You don’t have to be anywhere near the fastest car and you almost get it handed to you or given an opportunity to go steal one or take one.
“It’s more likely to land in your lap as long as you’re there and continue. But I think we’re still a little bit far away from just flat out dominating races.”
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.