Carson Hocevar celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Coming to the white flag of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, it looked like Carson Hocevar was racing for third. But when the dust settled, he was heading to victory lane.
Nick Sanchez led a dominant 168 of 172 laps in the event, but the 21-year old rookie and reigning series champion Zane Smith collided at the front of the field after taking the white flag and Hocevar instead drove through to take his first career victory in double overtime.
Hocevar led only the last overtime lap to claim his first win by 1.628-seconds over Chase Purdy.
After slight contact with Smith racing door-to-door for the win, Sanchez got loose and had to regain control of the truck heading to the white flag. Video replays show that as he steadied his truck, he was hit from behind by Hocevar, whose truck was carrying the momentum as Sanchez was recovering from his slight miscue.
The contact from behind was just enough to spin Sanchez back across the track and collect Smith’s truck, while Hocevar drove forward to the finish line and waited for official word of the win.
“I didn’t mean to get into him, I just meant to give him a push and he got sideways the second I hit him, I apologize to them, I’ll take the fall for it, I wrecked a Chevy and I’ll go talk to him about it – he deserved to win for sure,” Hocevar said of the contact with Sanchez.
“But all the times we were the fastest car and I don’t win, and this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now,” said Hocevar, who has four career runner-up finishes.
“We didn’t deserve to win today but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
Certainly, Sanchez got plenty of practice in mastering re-starts with six of the 12 cautions coming in the final 40 laps of the race. He drove to the front each time, having to duel side-by-side with Smith late in the race.
“Obviously coming to the last lap, me and the 38 (Zane Smith) were playing an aggressive side-drafting game and I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass and saved it,’’ Sanchez said. “Just got hit by the 42 (Hocevar). I don’t know what else to say about that.
“It is what it is, that’s racing.”
“This is what we’ve been working hard to do,” continued Sanchez, who swept both Stage wins. “We don’t want to just win, we want to dominate. Today we dominated, but we didn’t win so just got to go back and see what I can do better. Try to build on strengths. I guess, the positive is we got stage points, that’s something to fall back on. But I want to win, that’s my goal.”
Stewart Friesen finished third, with Ty Majeski fourth, and Monroe, Georgia’s Jake Garcia – the highest finishing rookie – in fifth.
Hailie Deegan equaled her career best finish with a sixth-place run. Marietta, Georgia’s Corey Heim, Ryan Vargas, Jack Wood, and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10.
Smith was scored 14th and Sanchez was scored 16th. The race leaves Majeski now with a three-point edge over Smith atop the championship standings.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
SpeedyCash.com 250 – April 1, 2023
1. (5) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 172.
2. (14) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 172.
3. (7) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 172.
4. (3) Ty Majeski, Ford, 172.
5. (9) Jake Garcia #, Chevrolet, 172.
6. (25) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 172.
7. (4) Corey Heim, Toyota, 172.
8. (26) Ryan Vargas, Toyota, 172.
9. (2) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 172.
10. (10) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 172.
11. (27) Mason Massey, Ford, 172.
12. (23) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 172.
13. (21) Matt Crafton, Ford, 172.
14. (18) Zane Smith, Ford, 172.
15. (6) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 172.
16. (1) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, Accident, 171.
17. (13) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 171.
18. (19) Lawless Alan, Chevrolet, 170.
19. (15) Rajah Caruth #, Chevrolet, 169.
20. (24) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 169.
21. (29) Josh Reaume, Ford, 168.
22. (34) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 168.
23. (12) Bret Holmes #, Chevrolet, 167.
24. (17) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 166.
25. (20) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 165.
26. (8) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 164.
27. (11) Tanner Gray, Toyota, Accident, 161.
28. (16) Dean Thompson, Toyota, Accident, 143.
29. (32) Armani Williams, Toyota, Accident, 140.
30. (30) Trey Hutchens, Chevrolet, Accident, 137.
31. (28) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, Accident, 134.
32. (33) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Vibration, 122.
33. (31) Keith McGee, Ford, Vibration, 39.
34. (22) Chad Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 17.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 99.39 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 45 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Caution Flags: 12 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: N. Sanchez # 1-25;C. Eckes 26;N. Sanchez # 27-35;C. Eckes 36;N. Sanchez # 37-77;B. Rhodes 78;N. Sanchez # 79-171;C. Hocevar 172.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Nick Sanchez # 4 times for 168 laps; Christian Eckes 2 times for 2 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 1 lap; Ben Rhodes 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,99,19,98,38,5,11,4,52,23
Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,19,99,5,38,15,11,4,17,88
Playoff Standings: 1. Zane Smith – 203 (2 Wins); 2. Christian Eckes – 187 (1 Win); 3. Carson Hocevar – 122 (1 Win); 4. Ty Majeski – 206; 5. Ben Rhodes – 194; 6. Matt Crafton – 155; 7. Grant Enfinger – 152; 8. Chase Purdy – 148; 9. Corey Heim – 148; 10. Nick Sanchez – 139.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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