Rookie Carson Hocevar Escapes Blaming Mentor Ross Chastain for Ruining His Spire Debut at the Daytona 500

Entering the biggest spectacle of the year is Cup Series rookie Carson Hocevar, who will be piloting the #77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports. The 2024 rendition of the Daytona 500 was postponed by a day due to rain, and it only took six laps for the crashes to start and for NASCAR Twitter to get mad at veteran Brad Keselowski.

Speaking to the news crew before his much-anticipated run at the 2.5-mile speedway, Truck Series rookie Hocevar, who said the obvious, revealed more to popular NASCAR reporter Matt Weaver about how the weather and Ross Chastain have played into the disappointing development.

Carson Hocevar gets real about the ‘0.1-second shift of scenario’ at the Daytona 500

It was basically a bitter disappointment for rookie star and Truck Series sensation Carson Hocevar, who entered the race with high hopes. However, as it turns out, his Daytona 500 ambitions were cut short by his mentor and the driver he looked up to—Ross Chastain—in an early tangle that involved seven cars in total.

The #1’s nudge initiated the avalanche as Brad Keselowski bumped John Hunter Nemechek, who was running 9th in the high line. Nemechek came down and made contact with Harrison Burton, who hit Hocevar as they both went into the grass.

Reflecting on the early disappointment, the rookie said, “No, no, not at all. Just especially with how many people we had for like we had a really good car, had a show in the Duels and get six laps to…. I had 0.1 second basically and it happened, ruined my lap basically and I tried my best not to slide across the grass but obviously with two plus days of rain its going to be really slick and I kept sliding and nothing, felt like all alone that was basically what it felt like right across that grass and nobody hit me, unfortunately, that was the case.” 

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Cup Series rookie’s ill-fated Daytona ride

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Things were looking good early for Portage native Carson Hocevar, racing in his first ever Daytona 500 Monday. Starting the race in ninth position in a field filled with the best of the best drivers in racing, Hocevar had hopes of an impressive first run at Daytona International Speedway, until things went terribly wrong for him out in the race after just five laps around the oval.

Going balls to the wall, bonkers, chasing his first Daytona triumph, Brad Keselowski who went three-wide bumped into the back of John Hunter Nemechek’s sending the #42 Toyota down the track into Harrison Burton’s car, which collided with Hocevar. Consequently, both Burton and Hocevar spun out onto the grass before sliding back up to the track, ultimately ending both their days in the wreck.

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