Hocevar enjoys competitive run at Darlington as he continues to learn the ropes

Carson Hocevar had a quietly competitive run in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in what was his second NASCAR Cup Series start.

Hocevar and the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club team finished on the lead lap in the 17th position. Not only was the effort a career-best run for the 20-year-old, but it was just the fourth top-20 finish for the team since March when Noah Gragson took 12th at Atlanta Motor Speedway (also making it their best finish on a non-superspeedway racetrack).

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“I’m so hard on myself, I was nitpicking myself because I felt like I gave away a spot or two there,” Hocevar told RACER. “But you’re not supposed to do this. It just means a lot. I feel super prepared going into these races that I’m just out there driving, and I feel like I know how to go fast.”

Hocevar was penalized on lap 217 for speeding on pit road. Fortunately, because it was under caution, he was sent to the rear of the field and didn’t lose the time he would have if it was under the green flag and had to serve a pass-through penalty.

“It’s just putting all 500 miles together, and we had a pretty smooth day,” he said. “I even sped just trying to learn and learn how to be a Sunday driver.

The loop data from Hocevar’s night is equally impressive. Hocevar qualified 15th, ran as high as 10th place, and had an average running position was 20th through 500 miles.

“I know, and I never went a lap down under green flag racetrack; we went one lap down because of pitting with the yellow,” Hocevar said of getting to run a crown jewel race. “But a lot of fun. My weakest, by far, point is pit road. I was really slow on pit road. But I felt pretty good, not a fish out of water racing a lot of my heroes, beating and banging a little bit.

“Just so fun. It means the world to drive a Cup car, have my name on a Cup car, and get to do this a few more times this year. All the thanks to Maury Gallagher and Sunseekers and everybody on this race team who believed I could go. I looked behind me – [Martin] Truex, [Kevin] Harvick, you know all the guys that I grew up playing with their diecast.”

Hocevar finished directly ahead of champions Truex and Harvick. Other veteran drivers he outlasted were Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez.

Hocevar looked fresh and comfortable leaning against his car after running the longest NASCAR national series race of his career – which took just over four hours to run thanks to a red flag for the lights inside Turns 3 and 4 that weren’t working – and said he didn’t feel the grueling effects of the event as can often be heard about.

“No, I just love this racetrack,” he said. “I was probably smiling all 500 (miles). It just kept me wanting to go more; I wished it was 600 miles at some point just because I wanted to keep going. It felt like I learned something at 480 and wanted to get another 100 miles in after I learned that.

“A lot of fun. These cars, there are so many cool boxes, cool suits, everything that the heat is probably the biggest thing and I was calm, cool and collected in there.”

Hocevar will also be in the car for the next two weekends at Kansas Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

“It’s going to be a benefit for the team as well, just not having to relearn a guy,” he said. “I started to feel comfortable in this car getting everything out of it I could and making mistakes, even hitting the wall, saving it a time or two when I got really out of control. Just learning the full-blown limit.”