Carson Hocevar is currently pursuing a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, which he will follow by pursuing a NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2024. On Tuesday, Spire Motorsports announced Hocevar has signed a multi-year deal to drive the #77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 full-time starting in 2024, replacing Ty Dillon.
Now in his third full-time season in the Trucks, Hocevar finished tenth in points in his first two campaigns. He finally broke through in 2023 by winning three races at Texas, Nashville, and Richmond, and he sits second in the championship entering the final race of the penultimate playoff round.
Touted as one of Chevrolet’s top prospects, Hocevar has made select starts in the Xfinity Series for Spire Motorsports and scored a pair of top tens in his first two starts for the team. He also made his Cup début in Spire’s #7 at Gateway as a subtitute for Corey LaJoie, who was at Hendrick Motorsports for the race, though he retired due to a crash.
Since the start of the Cup playoffs, he has also been in the #42 for Legacy Motor Club for every race save for the Charlotte Roval. He came close to a top ten at Bristol where he placed eleventh, and had scored top twenties in every race save for being the victim of a multi-car wreck at Talladega.
“Anybody in my position wants to be a Cup Series driver,” said Hocevar. “That’s what you dream about when you’re young. You want to race on Sundays. My opportunity to run a few times this year, to run on Sunday and get ready, I feel more than prepared to get in the #77 car with Spire. That team is growing exponentially and I’m just excited for everything.
“I have a unique opportunity to build something and grow with it, while growing myself at the same time. For what we’ve been able to do from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to Cup is pretty crazy. I know it seems like a big jump. With all the tools and resources, and everybody at Spire Motorsports, they have put a lot of faith in me, and I have a lot of faith in them. We all have faith in the whole programme. I feel like we can come out of the gate like we’ve done this for years.”
Hocevar takes over the #77 from Dillon, whose journeyman career continues for another year. Dillon has raced for three different Cup teams since Germain Racing’s demise after 2020 and more than twice as many in one-off entries in the Xfinity Series, joining Spire for 2023.
He is currently thirty-second in points with a best finish of eleventh at Daytona.
“I am grateful to Jeff (Dickerson), T.J. (Puchyr), and everyone at Spire Motorsports for allowing me to drive the #77 this season,” reads a statement from Dillon. Dickerson and Puchyr are Spire’s co-owners. “I wish their organisation nothing but the best in the future. I’m excited for what’s to come next year.”
LaJoie will return to the #7 as Hocevar’s partner, while the team has also added Hocevar’s Truck rival Zane Smith in a new third car.
