Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Camaro ZL1 and the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Silverado RST, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
So I heard you mention a couple weeks ago that you prefer the old school way of learning versus using the SMT data points and other things. I was just wondering from your standpoint, how does being in the broadcast booth for some races help with that and help you learn, and how much does it help you on Sunday’s?
“I don’t think it hurts because I’m watching the race, right? You’re seeing in-car footage. You’re seeing a bunch of footage, right? You’re seeing the different camera angles. You get to be in the booth and look out and watch TV, right? Normally when I watch races, I’m in the grandstands and I don’t get to see all the really close things and everything. So I don’t know if it 100% helps, but it doesn’t hurt of being here at the track and watching it in person, but also seeing the TV and getting both. Yeah, I don’t think it hurts.”
Just curious if you had a conversation with Ryan Preece at all over the last week, and if so, how did it go?
“Yeah, we did. I thought it was very productive. 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 — I just passed the 17 and I really didn’t expect the 60 to be a factor in the equation. I started unwinding the wheel to get out of the 34’s wake and try to be on offense. I found myself on defense, in the wake; crossing, tied and now he’s on my door. It just shocked me.
I just explained that, of I wasn’t trying to put him in a bad spot and be aggressive. I tried to unwind the wheel and track out to the wall, and I didn’t expect a car to be there. That’s on me for not predicting it and not expecting it — expectations being different and the grip level being a different thing. I think he was very understanding of it.
Obviously, we both wrecked and it wasn’t good for either of us. We’re both around the same point situation. He’s having a good year. I feel like we’re faster than expected. I think we just both have the understanding that we don’t want to ruin the momentum we each have moving forward.”
You had the pole last weekend at Texas. Michael (McDowell) had the pole in Vegas, as well. Spire has had speed on the intermediate tracks and has been strong to start the season. Do you expect that to continue this weekend at Kansas? How do you guys capitalize on that, if so, with results?
“Yeah, I do… or, I mean, at least I hope we do, right? Yeah, I think our cars are fast. I think our car, or my car specifically, has been really fast in the race, too. Last year was if we qualified good, we were for some reason not very good in the race. If we didn’t qualify good, for some reason, we were good in the race. Being able to translate that, I think, is really important.
It obviously helps with our friends over at Hendrick Motorsports on the engine side and everything. It’s helped leading into it. It’s not a secret of that. But our cars are getting better, and our people are getting better. We’re getting smarter at being able to translate that now. Starting up front is a lot better with pit selection and so many different things, obviously, besides clean air. But just pit selection, momentum and feeling good about the day. You can just ride that wave. Even if you’re kind of off a little bit, you can kind of maintain and play defense a little bit and still be ahead.
Ultimately, I think that was super important for us this year, to qualify better and get stage points. I think we have 50 stage points. That’s really saving our year so far, honestly.”
Obviously, you guys have had that speed, but from the organizational standpoint, does it get a little bit frustrating not getting consistent results knowing that you guys have been there every week? What do you also feel maybe you guys are missing to get that consistent result?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not good. I mean, 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? It’s more sustainable to be fast and have that happen because it normally fixes a lot of problems. Right now, it is fixing a lot of our problems, and we’re 17th in points. I think my average finish is like 29th at this rate.
Yeah, I mean, just a multitude of different things have happened. We’ve had fuel pumps, motors, pit issues and everything. I think that’s more just we’re doing different parts than we’re not used to using. So there’s some gremlins we were finding out at the start of the year, right? Last year, we had the same parts all year, and it went fine. This year, it’s like — oh, this burns this up or this does this or this does that. Yeah, you can’t get through a whole race, and you unfortunately learn that by trial by fire.
So yeah, I mean, ultimately, it’s just 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. Yeah, I think we’re all fighting through that and being able to handle that adversity even better.”
How fun has it been for you having the opportunity to get back in the Truck Series knowing that you didn’t get to do any racing down last year in your rookie campaign?
“Yeah, it’s definitely fun, and it was good for me. I thought I tricked the universe into getting the bad luck out on Friday and not on a Sunday. But yeah, it was fun to go run up front and go have fun. And doing it with no practice or qualifying was kind of fun of starting 19th and driving through the field. And yeah, it’s just fun to go back there and do it with Tyler Green, obviously, and do it with (Brian) Pattie.
And it’s rewarding for me to run good, too, because Jeff Dickerson and Spire have expressed how they felt like they should have put me in some truck races last year, but rookie year, they wanted me full focus on that. So it’s rewarding for me for them start to let me do some more because it feels to me like I’m doing everything right, knowing the goal is Sunday, and when things are going good, they’ll pull back their reins a little bit and let me go have fun.”
I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but it feels like you have pretty thick skin, or you take criticism with a grain of salt a lot of times. But then when incidents happen, like with Ryan Preece, it’s like he’s going to have his day, he doesn’t respect his equipment, you lump it into these other veteran guys, like (Ryan) Blaney and Kyle Busch. How do you process all this coming your way? Do you think — okay, well, I’m fast, I have speed, I’m young, so this is the nature of it? Or do you think — oh, they have a point, is it a mix of both? How do you absorb all that?
“Yeah, I mean, there’s a multitude of things, right? I mean, there’s certain things that are said in the heat of the moment, and then when you go talk to them, it’s a different conversation, right? And I think that’s a lot of times what happens is you get the radio transmission, or you see the talks after the race, or interviews and everything, and then when I have that conversation, it’s just different. It’s heat of the moment. I mean, there’s so many times where I feel like drivers will say something on the radio and they don’t even remember they said it, right? I mean, you saw it with teammates before, right? So there’s so many different things, and it’s just balancing that and knowing, for me, the intent of it, right? I was full on offense, and I didn’t know I had to be on defense, and I was. I wasn’t looking in my mirror when I felt like I should have been. Knowing if you were to rewind the clock, if I knew the result, I would do something different. But at the time, I felt like I knew the situation, and I would probably do the same thing again. But knowing the result, I get in that spot again, you’re going to be more cognizant and aware of that.
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. 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, and the intent wasn’t to put them in a bad spot, put me in a bad spot, or jump that line where it’s dirty, aggressive or over-aggressive.”
What kind of influence has Luke Lambert had on you because he feels like you’re right on the verge of just being a weekly contender, and I wonder how has he kind of helped mold you to get there? Because obviously, the raw talent’s there, it’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together.
“Yeah, I think Luke’s (Lambert) just super, super good, and I was the one that, the second we were racing with Legacy, we almost wished we could keep going. Just the working relationship, right? Maybe not in that building, but just keep going. I was like — man, I wish the year wasn’t over, and for me, that was really special because I knew these guys just spent 36 weeks away from their families, and normally everybody’s just happy to be done for the year. And for them, it felt like we’re just getting going, and now we’re going to break up, right? Now we’re going to go away. So the second I knew he was available, I was really hoping we could get him, and obviously that worked out really well.
He’s just a really, really good team leader. Not even just for me, but just really good at being a team leader for the guys; the crew guys, people in the shop, running the direction of our car and helping the direction of our company, basically.
There’s not a crew chief that can come in anymore, and you’re hiring him for the four shocks he’s got in his briefcase. You’re hiring them for the processes, the people skills and everything. I think for him, that’s why there wasn’t a change. In my entire tenure at Spire on the 77 car, we haven’t let anybody go or brought anybody in. It stayed the same on the pit crew side that’s employed by HMS. They fought to continue to be on our car for Luke’s leadership and how he treats his people. And the same can go for obviously the spotters and everybody that works on the car; the hauler drivers, everybody. He just does a super good job of that. And then to me, just helps me and him keep each other kind of level-headed of this is a journey. We’re not walking into a Hendrick Motorsports where they’ve won championships and have all these trophies on the wall. We’re trying to get there and build that, and we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. So I keep him on the straight and narrow, and he does me probably a little bit more, for sure. But I think we have a really, really good balance of that.”
How much do drivers pay attention to criticism about this car and the type of racing it produces?
“I mean, if you’re Kyle Larson and you led 493 laps, you don’t care… you like it, right? I don’t know. I mean, for drivers, it’s obviously going to be frustrating if you’re faster and you can’t pass and everything. But I feel like it’s irrelevant for us if we’re going to complain and don’t have true solutions that are proven, right? And I think that’s where a lot of us are. We complain, but we only complain to a certain extent because we don’t have a solution. So if you’re really complaining, then if you don’t have a solution, what do you expect to change if you don’t have the solution? So I think all of us are hoping the higher-ups and smarter ones can continue to develop the product because ultimately, we want to have fun racing and racing each other, and not roll around and be difficult to pass and everything. But at the same time, too, I mean, they don’t make any mistakes. The Xfinity race are obviously super good, but I don’t know if you’d 100% see how good the racing is if you put all the Cup guys in there. There’s a lot of times that mistakes create really good racing, and I think that’s why you see Cup guys, especially Kyle (Larson) lately, go to the Xfinity Series and just dominate or run really, really good. He doesn’t make mistakes, or he makes a lot less compared to the guys around him.”
With that said, is coming to Kansas a little bit of a breath of fresh air, considering the racing we have seen here the past three years with this car?
“I mean, maybe.
Yeah, I mean, I think it’s just more fun as a driver, in the sense that you can move around and do different things and run the top. That’s just fun, in general.
But yeah, I mean, I don’t think any of us are 100% walking in and our fun levels peaked or not, whether it’s going to be a good race or not. It’s more if it’s just going to be fun to drive, which, I mean, is kind of the same. But yeah, I mean, but this one could be a snoozer, too, right? So you just never know when a really good race is going to happen or not. But definitely the trend of Kansas has been pretty good lately.”
Through these questions, you’ve mentioned the universe multiple times as if it’s working against you in some form. So I’m curious, does it currently feel like you’re maybe like pushing a boulder up a mountain right now?
“I mean, I feel like we’re getting it out of the way, right? Either misfortune or you can’t predict when someone’s going to spin, let’s say when you come off pit road on a green flag cycle. So there’s that. But also, too, there’s plenty of things that are self-inflicted, when they drop the jack or the motor breaks because of a part failure. The fuel pump breaks because of a part failure. Ultimately, you just kind of have to get those out of the way. So you just have your processes in place. You eliminate potential issues and everything.
Yeah, I mean, do I think we’re getting closer? Yes. Do I think there’s a race where I can be confident saying there’s going to be a race where we’re the dominant car that we’re going to be up front? Probably not yet. I don’t think we’re there. I think it’ll be a shock if we do dominate a race, so far. I think we still need to continue to get better and build a notebook.
But as you saw with Michael (McDowell) up front there at the end, 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. I probably think that’s probably where we’ll be. But we’re getting faster and we’re running the top five more often. It’s more likely to kind of land in your lap there as long as you’re there and continue. But I think we’re still a little bit far away from, you know, just flat out dominating races.”
Corey Heim was in here earlier talking about how the Trucks and the Cup cars are so much more similar than the Xfinity cars. Is that your experience, too?
“Yeah, for sure. You know, the power to downforce ratio, the on-throttle time, kind of what you do is, yeah, really similar or way more similar than the Xfinity car, obviously. I felt really comfortable the first time I got in a Cup car. And the first time I got in a Xfinity car, it took me kind of all race to get really used to it. So, yeah, I mean, it’s just different. But, you know, I kind of always thought of the truck as you have this really big right-rear quarter panel.
In the Cup car, you just take that quarter panel, you put it underneath. That’s basically the diffuser. So that’s kind of how I pictured it and thought about driving it; how it would feel and how you have to — you go from loading up the right-rear to loading up just the rear, in general, with the diffuser. And that kind of philosophy, you know, kind of somewhat worked when I first got in it.”
Going from Trucks to Cup wasn’t common, but you’ve done it. Zane’s (Smith) done it. If all the cars stay the same in all three series, do you feel that the Truck Series is going to become that developmental series for Cup?
“I mean, no. I don’t think that’s going to be, like, the move. I just think it’s so — like, Xfinity’s so expensive and so tough that, you know, I’m sure there’s kids right now in Xfinity that if they had a spot, the team paying for them or sponsoring them or working would just much rather than having them in the Cup car because it’s not too much different in cost. And you might as well just have them thrown to the wolves and just learn a year in a Cup car.
So, no, I think it’s more likely to happen, but I still think it is going to be rare that you jump from Truck to Cup without any Xfinity experience or anything. It just all depends on the level of the team’s faith in you and everything. But I think it’s definitely — it’s just not going to be as shocking when it happens. I think it’s still possible, but I think you have to, you know, go dominate Trucks or be really, really good. Or do a lot of things behind the scenes that they see value, whether it’s driving a Cup car or, you know, you get a Cup opportunity like I did, where I got to drive a Cup car one time and it was like — okay, well, you drive a Cup car, we’ll just throw you in there and let you learn for a year and see how long it takes you to figure it out. So, yeah, I just think it just opens up a lot more avenues where you can go Cruck to cup or now Xfinity to Cup.”
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