Carson Hocevar’s bid to recreate Kyle Busch’s iconic celebration may have to wait a while longer. Since Busch’s tragic passing, Layne Riggs pulled out the Busch bow in Charlotte during the truck race, and Justin Allgaier followed in the NOAPS race in Nashville. 

Denny Hamlin, who took his second win this season at Nashville, also pulled out the bow on the front stretch. While Hamlin got his first Gibson Les Paul guitar, another driver who really wanted it didn’t get to recreate an iconic celebration. 

Hocevar spoke after finishing 10th and said, “It was brutal for us. We had our own set of issues all day. Kept fighting track position similar to the last few weeks, but luckily, we’re really good at passing cars.”

Ahead of the race at Nashville, where the winner gets an iconic custom-painted guitar, Hocevar was asked if he would smash the guitar like Kyle Busch did following his win in the NOAPS race in 2009. Hocevar said, “Yeah, without a doubt. There won’t be a piece left.”

The 77 Spire Motorsports driver got his career-first Cup victory in Talladega and pulled off one of the best celebrations. Driving his Chevrolet down the road while hanging out of the door, Hocevar softly slammed his car into the wall before pulling out perfect burnouts.

Because of that, there's no doubt that a win at Nashville from Hocevar would've definitely seen another iconic celebration from Hocevar, naturally in Kyle Busch's tribute.

Starting in 17th after a washed-out qualifying, Hocevar was fighting through traffic all day and finished outside the top 10 at the end of both stages before he finished 10th in the Cracker Barrel 400. 

Hocevar details a tough race, takes responsibility

Hocevar’s Chevrolet was fast, and he had a chance to finish in the top five, but his own mistake cost him time. He took responsibility for the mistake and pointed out that his team did well.

“My guys did a really good job. I bounced off the wall once or twice and then at least rally there to tenth. I made a mistake at the restart. Ricky got by me, and he finished fourth. I’m kicking myself a little bit. I didn’t maximize that. ”

Hocevar didn’t have the best restart on the last green flag run with 4 laps to go for the win. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was behind Hocevar at the restart, got off better and finished 4th, a solid result for the single-car Hyak Motorsport team that has just extended his contract. 

Hocevar picked up 27 points in Nashville and currently sits in 9th place with 12 races to go for the Chase. With 383 points from 14 races, Hocevar is in a competitive position before the Chase, but he ended up unhappy with his performance in Nashville.

Speaking about the race, Hocevar said a lot of it was about managing his brakes. “I just had to manage brakes from lap 20. I mean, just another little bit of adversity.”

Hocevar and Spire Motorsports both have been on the uphill task, even with Daniel Suarez starting to come good with a win in Charlotte, followed by winning the second stage in Nashville, where he eventually finished 19th but picked up 28 crucial points.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason