Carson Hocevar wins at Homestead-Miami, shuts Zane Smith out of Championship 4
With his win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Carson Hocevar advances to the Championship 4 in Phoenix and shuts out the defending champ. Zane Smith had to win this race, and he will come up 2.7 seconds short of his goal in P2. He will not defend his NASCAR Truck Series championship.
Carson Hocevar has won his fourth race of the season. It looks like these Cup Series starts for Hocevar are paying dividends as he wins at Homestead. Hocevar advances and gets rid of his toughest competitor, arguably.
Now, Ben Rhodes, Corey Heim, and Grant Enfinger will battle Hocevar for a championship at Phoenix. GMS Racing will have a shot at a title before shutting down their organization.
This one is all about Carson Hocevar, though. He gets the job done in South Beach.
Carson Hocevar didn’t get to do a burnout in celebration. He said his team is taking this engine to Phoenix with them. However, he did run up into the flag stand and threw his checkered flag to the crowd. Then he ran up and down the front row and high-fived and took selfies with fans.
Four wins on the year, it feels like Hocevar is the favorite for Phoenix. We can’t sleep on Ben Rhodes, though. He’s a former champion and will be tough to beat in Phoenix. He didn’t have to win in order to claim his championship, P3 was good enough.
I think whoever takes the championship, will likely need a win at Phoenix to do it.
Carson Hocevar moving on to Phoenix
This weekend, Carson Hocevar was able to focus completely on the Truck Series. Between his win at Richmond and the win at Homestead this weekend, it has been a hell of a run. In these playoffs, he has three top-5s, a top-10, and a victory. His worst finish was at Talladega when he was P11.
So, is the momentum going to keep going? Hocevar has finished in the top-10 twice at Phoenix for the championship race. This is his first trip to the Championship 4, though.
After his win, Hocevar said he knew he could point his way into the championship, but winning is a lot more fun. There is no doubt about that, as Hocevar was overjoyed. Without being able to do a burnout, I’m not sure he knew what to do, really.
“It’s so good to feel… AH! I love winning!”
Onto his first Championship 4 appearance, Carson Hocevar will try to claim a trophy before making his move up to the Cup Series. What’s great is that next season we get to watch Hocevar and Zane Smith race for Rookie of the Year. Oh yeah, there’s some guy named John Hunter Nemechek who has six wins in the Xfinity Series and will be returning to the Cup Series in 2024, too. He won’t be a rookie, though.