Flat tires sour Hocevar's strong Michigan homecoming

If it weren’t for left-rear tire trouble, Carson Hocevar might have had an all-time weekend to remember at his home track.

Instead, Hocevar was left with a pair of disappointing results and a hole to climb out of in points. He was the talk of the garage entering the race weekend, for both good and controversial reasons, but the Portage, Mich. native kept the focus on-track with a pair of strong runs at Michigan International Speedway.

During Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race, Hocevar was leading with eight laps remaining when a flat left-rear tire forced him to pit road. He quickly shook off any frustration and found himself in contention again on Sunday, only to face the same fate.

Looking to stretch fuel to the finish, he took over the top spot on lap 151 and kept William Byron and Kyle Larson in his mirror over the ensuing 30 laps. Only another flat left-rear tire – this time with 19 to go – finally forced the 22-year-old to relinquish the lead with 19 laps remaining.

Hocevar was able to limp his No. 77 Chevrolet to pit road for fresh left-side tires and made it to the checkered flag, but the lost time left him a lap down in 29th at race’s end – one spot behind Byron, who ultimately ran out of fuel in the final two laps.

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Realistically, Hocevar was never going to win given that a caution never came over the final run. His car was short on fuel even relative to Byron. Asked whether he’d like to pin his hopes on a caution or drop back and save, Hocevar chose to keep his track position, so he was going to be close on fuel even with some help from yellows.

But the way his race went awry without even the chance of stretching to the end, particularly after leading a career-high 32 laps, left him rueing the missed opportunity.

“It’s such a double-edged sword, right?,” Hocevar said. “There’s nothing [where] I could go back and just be like, ‘We could be better in this moment to win the race, or not.’

“There’s so many moments where it’s just like, man, I wish we had that opportunity to see if we even would have had a fighting shot at the end of these races.”

If there’s any positive for Hocevar, it’s that he was in contention to win for the second-straight week and didn’t lose too much ground in the point standings. The Spire Motorsports prospect entered Michigan four points below the cutline in 18th. He didn’t lose any spots in the standings with Sunday’s result, but now has an 18-point gap to make up over the next 11 weeks.

Of course, if he can keep putting himself in position to contend for wins, points might not matter. One win would lock the No. 77 team into the playoff field. Hocevar would prefer to have that carrot dangled in front of him than try to figure out the alternative.

“I’d much rather be in these spots and have these things happening than be slow,” he said.