Denny Hamlin pinpoints genius decision made by Carson Hocevar at Homestead-Miami

Carson Hocevar and his No. 77 Spire Motorsports team implemented a unique strategy at the end of the Stage 1 in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami.

After Christopher Bell‘s solo spin on Lap 70, drivers came to pit road with less than 10 laps left in the stage. Rather than push it to the end of the stage, Hocevar ran in the back of the pack, well off the pace. Hocevar and his team chose to save their new Goodyear tires for the start of Stage 2, giving them an advantage on the rest of the field.

Denny Hamlin loved the strategy. Hamlin wondered aloud on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast why more drivers and teams don’t do it more often.

“I have wondered why people don’t do this more often,” Hamlin said. “In the Xfinity race… they were gonna restart with like three to go and I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t you just pit and then run the absolute slowest you could to not get lapped.’ The drivers are out there, and their mentality is, ‘OK, I’ve got new tires. I’m just gonna go here.’ But you know you’re about to have a caution. And you know you’re about to be at a tire deficit to those who are gonna pit at the end of the stage.

“So, Carson ran at the back of the pack slow? … That was the right thing for him to do. I don’t know where he was running at the time. But they said he leveled off around sixth or seventh place after things got going. That’s the right call and I wonder why people don’t do that more often. Just go really slow, don’t get lapped, then you will jump ahead all the people that hit pit road.”

Good day gone bad for Carson Hocevar at Homestead

Hocevar had a good run going at Homestead. Unfortunately, his No. 77 Chevrolet couldn’t hold up. Mechanical issues forced him to pit road with 82 laps to go, and later the garage. At the time, Hocevar was running 12th. He instead was credited with a P37 finish after his early exit.

After a runner-up finish at Atlanta, things have gone south for Hocevar. He’s finished 30th or worse in each of the last three races and sits 27th in the points standings.