“We Struggled Early” – Jimmie Johnson’s Sidelined Recruit Shows Perseverance To Lock Himself for Phoenix

This past weekend, Homestead-Miami Speedway witnessed the Truck Series race, the Xfinity Series race, and the Cup Series race in a span of just 3 days. Even though murmurs regarding the Cup and the Xfinity Series seem to get most of the coverage, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is not far behind with the victory of Jimmie Johnson‘s Legacy Motor Club temporary recruit.

And with his late-race victory, Carson Hocevar joined Corey Heim in the Championship 4 race. However, this victory didn’t come as easy as it sounds. In a recent episode of the MRN Live podcast, the 20-year Portage resident revealed how, by sheer strength of will, he emerged victorious in a race that featured an array of yellow flags.

Carson Hocevar’s advantage over his rival

Perhaps nobody predicted that Carson Hocevar would be able to seal the deal after he had that rough pit stop. However, when the driver of the No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado started from second and scurried along to make it in 3rd and 8th in the first two stages, the fans were convinced that this young man was racing to not just make a top-5 finish but win the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200.

On that note, Corey Heim won both stages and was ready to win his 4th season victory for Tricon Garage. Alas, the Toyota Tundra icon appeared to have some issues with his truck that ousted him from the forefront of the grid. Good for Hocevar, the Niece Motorsports speedster was left to battle just Zane Smith, his future teammate for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series.

Despite lacking the winning speed, Ben Rhodes threw in a “Hail Mary” move by pitting inside the final 60 laps of the race for fresh tires and fuel. This decision had initially started to give Rhodes an edge over Hocevar and Smith, but when Smith and Hocevar committed to the pit road later than Rhodes, it was all over for the #99 Ford pilot.

Before the final 11 laps, Hocevar had already driven past Smith and chased Rhodes for the lead. Rhodes fell short of keeping up with Hocevar’s fresh tires and lost the lead. And this was in lap 124. After that, Hocevar did not look back and dashed forth to grab the checkered flag. But was it easy?

While talking to the MRN Live crew, Hocevar said, “You don’t get those trucks right very often. About the perfect time to go to Phoenix and race for the championship and Saturday, you know you’re gonna fight for a championship…used to seeing that 42 up front, got to have a lot of speed going into the race for a championship.”

Was there a deficiency in the truck that held Hocevar back during the pit stops? The host was curious. Hocevar explained that his truck was really fast in the long run. “We struggled early in the day. We got behind, just trying to manage a rough pit stop,” he said, “We controlled the race for a long time but had to fight some adversity a little bit obviously there were some alternate strategies.”

“We had to catch up but a fast truck fixes a lot of bad luck and we were able to do that and achieve that,” he added.

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Despite his Truck Series aura, Jimmie Johnson had decided to replace Hocevar for the 4EVER 400. Instead, he appointed a Toyota driver to drive his Chevrolet.

Legacy Motor Club’s unusual move, days before Homestead-Miami

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Jimmie Johnson’s Cup Series team is switching manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota after this season. Hence, he was able to obtain permission from both manufacturers to have Joe Gibbs Racing driver John Hunter Nemechek drive his #42 Cup machine at Homestead-Miami.

John Hunter Nemechek is already deemed to drive the #42 car for Legacy Motorclub in 2024. Nevertheless, Hocevar will be driving the blue and white Sunseeker Chevy at Martinsville and Phoenix this year.

Needless to say, this replacement wasn’t a performance issue at all, as Hocevar has shown immense prowess at his craft, substituting Noah Gragson in LMC throughout the second half of the season. Moreover, Hocevar has also booked a full-time ride with Spire Motorsports in the upcoming season.

What are your speculations about why Jimmie Johnson decided to hire JHN just for a single race in 2023? Could there be a bigger reason behind this or is it just to get Nemechek ready for 2024? Comment below with your thoughts!

Read more: 6’3 Carson Hocevar Reveals the One Thing He Is Terrified of, and It’s Not Going 200 MPH