Carson Hocevar Believes Spire Can Compete for Championship

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Carson Hocevar Believes Spire Can Compete for Championship

Originally posted on RFKRacingDigest
By Chionia Libania Colaco | Last updated May 7, 2026 9:56 AM ET

If there’s someone who’s making strides in NASCAR, it’s Carson Hocevar. And with the run that he is on, the 23-year-old has a newfound confidence and believes that Spire can compete for a championship.

While talking to Kevin Harvick on his weekly Happy Hour, the Spire Motorsports driver was questioned if he believes that his team can compete for the championship. He replied, saying, “Well, it might surprise a lot of people, but it wouldn’t surprise us.”

The NASCAR veteran further discussed the #77 driver on the same podcast. “He’s very confident in what he does, and right now it’s like on a day like yesterday, right? He qualifies on the pole. All the momentum wins the Truck race, wins last week in Talladega, but they didn’t freak out, and they got a solid finish,” he said.

Harvick further added, “He’s [Hocevar] figured out how to not get himself in positions to tear the car up and get decent finishes out of it. And that’s what makes them dangerous; if they can capitalize on the days when they have speed.”

The 23-year-old has had a spectacular run, as he won the Cup Series race at Talladega, won the Truck Series race at Texas a week later, and qualified on pole for the Texas Cup race. During the race at Talladega, Hocevar led 19 laps and held off Chris Buescher (who led 22) during the race restarts.

It is up to Spire Motorsports to make its car a bit more competitive. It might not be as slow as before, but Hocevar has been missing out on capitalizing and making up places during restarts.

However, Hocevar is confident that the team can figure out the problem soon.

Carson Hocevar believes Spire can rise to the top

Over the years, Spire Motorsports has had a significant amount of growth. The team went from winning once in 2019 to now winning a cup series race and also finishing in the top 10 almost every week.

While talking to the media prior to the race in Texas, Hocevar was questioned about where he thinks his team stands in the competition at the moment. “I don’t think we’re far off. I feel like we’re right there with the Hendrick cars, like Kansas, Vegas, we just kind of missed it just a little bit,” he said.

And the results back this. At the Texas race, both Spire drivers Daniel Suarez and Hocevar finished 6-7 respectively. Hocevar is not far off when he says he believes that the team can fight for a championship.

This article first appeared on RFKRacingDigest and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: