Carson Hocevar has been rapid on road courses this year and has often been considered a real contender for wins behind NASCAR’s current road course maestro, Shane van Gisbergen. 

The No. 77 was in contention for the win at San Diego last week before he rolled back down the order with contact from the race winner Corey Heim. 

Hocevar spoke to the media in Sonoma, where he will start the race from the front row in second. He was asked about what he’s feeling about racing against the Trackhouse 97 driver. 

On a video of the interaction posted by Frontstretch on X, Hocevar replied, “He’s just been doing it his whole life. Ultimately, we’re just all having to just kind of go to work a little bit more and just kind of move the goalposts further. Everybody’s trying to just kind of now learn at it.”

With that, Hocevar hinted that everybody knows that SVG is the biggest threat on any kind of road course and drivers, including himself, are trying to reduce that advantage by putting in more preparation into their road course races. 

Hocevar gave an example and said, “It’s no different than the 90s. There were a lot of guys that didn’t really care about the road courses, didn’t really put a lot of effort into it. Then all of a sudden the guy that was good at the Ovals started dominating and winning a lot of races.”

Hocevar pointed to how road courses act as a major differential for the points table. It’s not often that dominant oval drivers have equally good road course finishes. 

With Hocevar’s comments, it’s clear that he wants to capitalize on racing where not many drivers are contenders, and therefore, SVG is the one he’s really looking to race at Sonoma, and possibly beat.

Hocevar heading into Sonoma with an eye on the Chase

With his first career Cup win in Talladega, Carson Hocevar is currently 9th in the points table, just 2 points behind his Spire teammate Daniel Suarez. With Sonoma being the last road course race of the season, Hocevar believes his car has potential for maximum points. 

During the same media interaction, Hocevar was asked about his feelings coming into the Sonoma race. The 77 Spire Chevrolet driver replied, “Our cars have been good, especially on road courses here lately. Hopefully it can get translated here.”

Hocevar was also asked how he felt with the return to ovals approaching. He said, “I’m excited, especially with the Chase and everything for us, all Ovals if going to be great for me.”

Hocevar will need to have a clean race in Sonoma to capitalize on points, but the kind of driver he is, the win will be the only thing on his mind when the race gets underway. 

What do you think about Hocevar’s performances on road courses this season? Let us know. 

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason