Carson Hocevar was tight-lipped following Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session in Las Vegas. The driver of the No. 77 will roll off 19th in today’s (March 15) Pennzoil 400 in Sin City.
When speaking to the media following his qualifying run, the Spire Motorsports driver was not thrilled with the way he performed.
Carson Hocevar on his qualifying run: ‘We’re just slow’
During the media scrum, Hocevar addressed his qualifying lap.
“I don’t know. The sim wasn’t very good, so we just kinda showed up with notes and it’s just been a handful to drive,” Hocevar said.
Hocevar’s Spire teammate, Daniel Suarez, posted a 13th-place qualifying run. Meanwhile, their other team car, Michael McDowell wound up with a 30th-place effort.
Although Suarez was able to run a faster lap, Hocevar believes all three of Spire Motorsports’ cars are having difficulties in Las Vegas.
“It seemed like they were fighting the same issues in practice,” Hocevar said.
When asked what he believed happened on his qualifying run that resulted in the 19th-place starting spot, Hocevar made a blunt remark.
“We’re just slow,” Hocevar said.
Hocevar was also asked if aspects from last year’s Las Vegas race would help in performance on Sunday. The 23-year-old was optimistic about the things they “could change” on his No. 77 machine, but was definite if it would make a difference.
“Hopefully, the stuff we’re allowed to change can get us there. Stuff we weren’t allowed to change is similar to last year. Hopefully, that can be the case,” Hocevar said.
Hocevar was asked a few off-topic questions, such as if he felt a difference in the increase in horsepower at certain tracks. Last week, the Cup cars ran at 750 horsepower, where they previously ran at 670.
Despite the increase, Hocevar didn’t sense any change.
“No, not really,” Hocevar said.
In another off-topic question, Hocevar was asked about the significance of this year marking 20 years since the release of the hit Pixar movie “Cars.”
Yet, after his performance in qualifying on Saturday, Hocevar wasn’t wanting to talk about movies.
“I qualified like [expletive] and I got to get asked about Cars,” Hocevar said.
Carson Hocevar still seeking first Cup Series win
Amid his third full-time season of NASCAR Cup Series competition, Carson Hocevar has yet to capture a checkered flag. Amid struggles in qualifying, Hocevar aims to seek his first victory in today’s Cup race at Las Vegas in his 86th start.
Unfortunately for Hocevar, he has also struggled to find results at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In five career starts at the 1.5-mile track, Hocevar has posted a best finish of 15th, while finishing 30th or worse three times.
In total, Hocevar has 16 career top-10 finishes and four top-five efforts in the NASCAR Cup Series. His best finish came last June at Nashville Superspeedway, where he ran runner-up to Ryan Blaney.
In 2026, Hocevar has posted one top-five effort, which was fourth at EchoPark Speedway. He currently sits 15th in the points standings after four races.
The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway starts today (March 15) at 4 p.m. Eastern time. The race can be watched on FS1 or listened to on the Performance Racing Network.