In A Nutshell
Carson Hocevar dominated the night at Kansas Speedway, earning his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory since moving up the Cup Series at the end of 2023.
After Corey Heim dominated the race early, a bad pit stop mired him back in the pack for the second half of the race, from which he could never recover. That allowed Hocevar to lead 75 of the races 134 laps. Hocevar had to hold off a bold charge from Layne Riggs to take home the victory, which involved a little contact, a near crash, and a bird — and not the one that builds nests.
The Top Truckers at Kansas Speedway
Winner, Stage 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (75 of 134) and Fastest Lap (31.801 seconds, 173.740 mph): Carson Hocevar
Polesitter: Jake Garcia
Stage 1 Winner: Corey Heim
Biggest Mover: Brandon Jones (started 24th, finished seventh)
Top Storylines of the Race
- Rookie Dawson Sutton brought out the first caution of the race, but NASCAR deemed the No. 26 intentionally spun to draw a yellow after he took damage in an opening-lap shuffle that left several trucks damaged. As such, Sutton was held two laps by NASCAR for intentionally drawing a caution.
- Of the 31 trucks in the field, only four failed to finish, which is impressive when you consider that the race was slowed a whopping seven times (five of them for incident) for 33 laps.
- Despite the entertaining finish, Riggs was disqualified from his second-place finish after an issue with the bed cover was found in post-race inspection. He lost all his points he gained on the night (including a point for the joint fastest lap, the first time there would have been a tie for the fastest lap) and is officially credited with 31st, dead last on the field.
The Winning Move
Entering the final lap, Riggs was right on the tail of Hocevar’s No. 7 and was poised to make a move on him entering turn 1. He did, though he was nowhere near in position to actually make a pass.
What Riggs did make was contact with Hocevar, sending the two of them sideways.
Fortunately, the wall was right there to catch both of them, and they kept on digging while giving up little time to third-place William Byron (who is no stranger to winning a Kansas truck race on the final lap from third).
Riggs couldn’t track Hocevar back down in the final two-thirds of the lap, and Hocevar rode off with the victory — while also letting Riggs know that he was number one.
Playoff Rundown
Can you believe we’re officially halfway through the regular season?
Nine races down, nine races to go before we begin the seven-race playoffs. Here’s a rundown of how the playoff field stacks up with just nine races left.
1. Corey Heim — 3 wins
2. Chandler Smith — 1 win (64 points behind Heim)
3. Daniel Hemric — 1 win (85 points behind Heim)
4. Tyler Ankrum — 1 win (100 points behind Heim)
5. Grant Enfinger (+59 above 11th)
6. Ty Majeski (+49)
7. Jake Garcia (+38)
8. Kaden Honeycutt (+20)
9. Layne Riggs (+12)
10. Ben Rhodes (+9)
—— PLAYOFF CUTLINE ——
11. Stewart Friesen (-9)
12. Gio Ruggiero (-25)
13. Rajah Caruth (-25)
14. Tanner Gray (-29)
15. Matt Crafton (-43)
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: Gio Ruggiero is finally back atop the leaderboard with an impressive fourth-place finish. As noted above, Ruggiero is thoroughly in the mix for a playoff spot — if he can work on the mistakes and bad finishes, he’ll be contending for a championship come fall.
No. 2 — Cody Dennison (22nd)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (20th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (fifth)
No. 22 — Morgen Baird (25th)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (15th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (28th)
No. 66 — Luke Baldwin (30th)
No. 77 — Andres Perez* (19th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (18th)
*Denotes 2025 Rookie of the Year contender
One Big Takeaway From This Race
That finish between Hocevar and Riggs looked kind of familiar, didn’t it?
Perhaps I’m reaching, but the contact between the two and the subsequent saves may have reminded fans of this very race in 2010, when Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Sauter both made contact with each other battling for the lead late in the race,
Hornaday tried to pass Sauter on the inside in turn 3 and washed up into the No. 13, sending both trucks sideways through turns 3 and 4. The two drivers went for a long synchronous slide before saving their trucks and continuing on.
Much like Friday night, the race stayed green, and the two had a large lead over third-place Todd Bodine so neither lost positions. They finished 1-2, with Sauter taking the victory over Hornaday.
Now, 15 years later, it almost seemed like history repeated itself in some small sort of way — well, all the way up until Riggs’ disqualification kind of nullified the finish.
Talkin’ Truckers
Hocevar on the win and why he flipped Riggs off:
Byron (second), Sutton (15th), Chandler Smith (17th) and Rajah Caruth (21st) break down their evenings in the Heartland:
Heim (third) comes up short after a bad pit stop and restart violation cost him a chance at victory:
Riggs (31st) discusses his battle with Hocevar prior to disqualification:
Paint Scheme of the Race
Rookie Connor Mosack brought a new sponsor to the Heartland with MKS Pipe and Valve coming aboard his No. 81.
Let’s just say McAnally-Hilgemann Racing did a fantastic job giving the company a great debut paint scheme.
With navy blue in there rear and white in the front, the two colors are separated by a bright red outline of a map of the 48 contintental United States. The US backdrop also makes Mosack’s white No. 81 stand out on the truck.
In all, it’s a simple design, but sometimes simple is best. Such is the case here for the rookie. Mosack took this truck to an 18th-place finish, rebounding from a spin with Bayley Currey late in the race.
Next Stop
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore. in fact, we’re in the hills of Wilkes County.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series once again joins the zMAX CARS Tour and NASCAR Cup Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway for All-Star Week. Heim is the defending winner of the race.
Coverage for the Window World 250 begins at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 17. Television coverage remains on FOX Sports 1, while the all-new NASCAR Racing Network continues its exclusive season-long radio broadcast coverage of the Truck Series.
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.