A Cup rookie season can go by in a blur to a driver.
Carson Hocevar had his rookie season go by in a quicker manner.
Spire Motorsports team co-owner Jeff Dickerson described Hocevar’s rookie season in a unique way to the driver.
“The best thing is, we did like three years of development” in one season, Hocevar said of what Dickerson told him. “We went from, at the start of the year, nobody expected anything of the 77 (team), then they were shocked to see it up front, and then they didn’t expect it anymore because they were used to it by then.
“That takes a long time to do in this series and in this sport. So for us to be able to have that sort of progression of everybody not expecting to see us, shocked to see us and then used to seeing us, I think, is the biggest compliment I can get.”
The 21-year-old Michigan native did not have a good start to the season when he was collected in a crash on the fifth lap of the season-opening Daytona 500 and placed last in the 40-car field.
He had one top-10 finish in the first 14 races through the Coca-Cola 600 before his season changed.
Hocevar followed the Memorial Day weekend race by scoring five consecutive top-20 finishes and had top 20s in 10 of the next 11 races, including three top 10s.
He failed to finish only one race the rest of the season after his Daytona 500 ended early.
His summer stretch also included a $50,000 fine and 25-point penalty by NASCAR for wrecking Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville in late June.
Hocevar finished with one top-five finish — a third-place result at Watkins Glen — and six top 10s in a season that earned him Cup Rookie of the Year honors.
Hocevar finished 21st in the points — the highest a Spire Motorsports driver had finished in the Cup standings.
Hocevar’s progress came in a season where Spire Motorsports made many changes. The team essentially traded Corey LaJoie for Justin Haley during the playoffs and added former champion crew chief Rodney Childers and former Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell, along with his crew chief, Travis Peterson.
Hocevar said he’s looking forward to the addition of McDowell to help him with his superspeedway racing.
One change for the 2025 season is that Hocevar says he will race more. He ran only Cup races in 2024 to focus on that series. It marked the first time since 2018 that he had not run in a Truck Series race.
He’s still working on his schedule but is expected to run select Truck races for Spire Motorsports and also is expected to run in select dirt late model events.
Recent Cup Rookie of the Year winners
2024 — Carson Hocevar
2023 — Ty Gibbs
2022 — Austin Cindric
2021 — Chase Briscoe
2020 — Cole Custer
2019 — Daniel Hemric
2018 — William Byron
2017 — Erik Jones
2016 — Chase Elliott
2015 — Brett Moffitt
2014 — Kyle Larson
