Nashville a 'bittersweet' pill for Hocevar

Carson Hocevar was battling both sides of the emotional spectrum after finishing second on Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway.

It was the second time this season and in his career that Hocevar was the runner-up in a NASCAR Cup Series race. But it is the first on a traditional oval – since the first one was the drafting race at Atlanta Motor Speedway – and it was the second top-five finish for the team through 14 races.

“It feels really good,” Hocevar said. “It sucks when you finish second knowing the difference. That’s your year if you win. All those bad races don’t matter if you win the race today. So, it feels really good, especially going to Michigan. The qualifying draw is going to be super important (next week). A home race. I think that’s going to fit us even better than here.

“But it stings. It normally stings until about Monday or Tuesday, then you feel good about it. Or at least about the speed and execution we had.”

Hocevar and the No. 77 Spire Motorsports team found themselves in a position for a big night during the final stint of the Cracker Barrel 400 after cycling out behind Ryan Blaney. It was a four-spot gain for Hocevar, but lapped traffic and more than a two-second deficit to Blaney would be the tale of the tape.

“It’s impossible to get around (lapped traffic),” Hocevar said. “Or not impossible, but we need 600 miles to probably pass three cars the way that was going and how rubbered up it was. I tried moving up, and a lap car just drove right back around me. So, it was super difficult and obviously frustrating.

“The [No.] 12 was backing up to me, and I was like, OK, I’ll have a shot. Then I caught what he caught.”

A solid day, and a rebound from crashing out of the Coca-Cola 600 a week ago, was only so much solace for Hocevar.

“My dream and expectation is to be here, win races, and be up front,” he said. “Yeah, it sucks or you're disappointed. I feel like if I weren’t disappointed, I don’t deserve this seat. When I was a fan, I hated when people were pumped about second or pumped about third or whatever. I said I’d never be like that, and I feel like I’m not.

“It’s tough to live by when you’re constantly not winning, obviously. But I’m proud of the execution, and I can still be happy about how we executed. We were the second best; I don’t think we were better than the [No.] 12, or that there was anything I could have done differently. But you want to win.”

There are 12 regular-season races remaining, and Hocevar is well aware of that fact. A year ago, Hocevar finished 21st in his rookie season in the series.

“I just know that we’re running out of opportunities for this year (in) the regular season,” he said. “You’re running out of opportunities, and not every week are you going to be up front, or statistically, we don’t have that luxury. Yeah, you don’t know how long in between when you’ll have a shot at running up front.”

Hocevar gained five spots in the championship point standings to 17th place with Sunday’s performance. As it stands with the playoff grid, Hocevar is four points below the cutline.

“A little bit,” said Hocevar of gaining those positions. “If we won, we would have gained them all. So, a little bit, but it’s bittersweet.”