Spire Motorsports and Rick Hendricks – both Chevrolet cars, have had a technical alliance, which usually means helping each other throughout the season. Despite having legendary drivers like Chase Elliott and others in his alliance from Hendricks, Spire’s star driver has established his priorities, and it is not exactly helping the legends on the Hendricks team.
Carson Hocevar’s straight-cut words
Carson Hocevar’s aggressive racing style in the Chevy has divided opinion throughout his short career. Spire Motorsports is in a technical alliance with Hendrick, and so, there are expectations that he would help out the likes of Chase Elliott and his teammates, but that is not one of the priorities for Hocevar when he is in the car.
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“I don’t care who’s on the side of the car. I just care about where we are in the pecking order,” Carson Hocevar said when asked about battling other Chevy cars, especially from Hendrick Motorsports, on the field. “It doesn’t affect me if there are three Hendrick cars in front of me or three Hendrick Cars behind me.”
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The OEM introduced some changes to Chevrolet’s body. While it has not yielded a Cup Series win for Spire, Hocevar has liked what he has seen.
“It’s been great for us to get a new body and obviously I hit on it and be fast at Phoenix around top 10, and then same at Vegas,” said Hocevar.
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So far, it has been the Toyotas who have dominated this season, in terms of pure pace and performance. Chevrolet seems to be struggling so far, with not a single race win by any of their cars, but Hocevar has certainly been improving. He recreated his season’s best finish with a P4 at Darlington earlier last week.
The Chevys are expected to catch up soon, considering their performance in recent years, but if they don’t display consistency soon, things could slip out of their hands.
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Former NASCAR driver warns Chevrolet
The Chase format has been reintroduced for the 2026 NASCAR season. Although Chevrolet won last year with Kyle Larson outpacing Toyota’s Denny Hamlin in the final race, things could be different this year with the new format, according to former driver Kevin Harvick.
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“You’ve got to be in that top six to win this championship when the points reset,” said Harvick on his podcast. “So right now, Tyler Reddick’s put him in, himself in a fairly good position to be one of those six cars.”
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Carson Hocevar has elevated his racing this year and is currently 13th in the standings. If the regular season ended, he would be in the playoffs, but the goal has to be to further climb up the standings.
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His alliance mates from Hendricks are certainly all legends, and although he would not want to buddy up with them, taking advice from them to break into the top half would be wise. After all, Kyle Larson won the Cup Series title less than a year ago. The youngster has great potential and will be hoping to continue his good form at the Martinsville Speedway. While he has had two Top 4 finishes, a first Cup Series win will be what’s on Hocevar’s mind.