RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Carson Hocevar came to New Hampshire Motor Speedway desperately needing to stop a late-season slide.
Instead, Sunday turned into one of his messiest afternoons yet.
Hocevar entered the NASCAR Cup Series race 11th in the standings after losing six positions over the previous two races. He finished 31st at Iowa Speedway, then followed it with a dead-last 37th-place result at Richmond Raceway.
New Hampshire offered a chance to finally change the direction of that trend.
For a while, it looked like he might. Then everything unraveled.
Hocevar spun before the race even officially began, recovered to finish third in Stage 1, tangled with Connor Zilisch in an incident that collected multiple cars, later went back after the rookie and eventually spun again on Lap 203.
By then, the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet was multiple laps down and out of contention, turning a weekend that Hocevar badly needed into another one he would rather forget.
Carson Hocevar’s Wild New Hampshire Day Started Before the Green Flag
The warning signs arrived before NASCAR ever threw the green flag.
With the field circulating on wet-weather tires following rain at New Hampshire, Hocevar spun his No. 77 Chevrolet in Turn 4 during the pace laps. Conditions ultimately forced NASCAR to bring the field back to pit road while track-drying efforts continued.
Once racing finally began, however, Hocevar looked capable of salvaging something much better.
He climbed from his 22nd starting position and finished third in Stage 1, collecting eight valuable stage points. Considering how his previous two weekends had gone, it was exactly the kind of start Hocevar needed.
It didn’t last.
On Lap 84, Hocevar and Zilisch made contact on the frontstretch, sending Hocevar spinning and triggering a caution. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon were also caught up in the aftermath, although all four drivers continued.
Hocevar was clearly unhappy.
“It just got [expletive] wrecked,” Hocevar said over his radio after the incident, according to The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.
Zilisch had a considerably different assessment, saying over his own radio that Hocevar “did that to himself.”
And their afternoon together wasn’t finished.
Hocevar and Connor Zilisch’s Battle Escalates
Hocevar eventually caught back up to Zilisch and made his displeasure impossible to miss.
The two raced side-by-side before Hocevar moved into Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet approaching Turn 1, making door-to-door contact and forcing Zilisch out of the groove.
Zilisch’s team immediately warned the rookie not to retaliate.
“Just don’t [expletive] with him … [expletive] with him. Long way to go,” Zilisch’s spotter told him over the radio.
Zilisch listened and kept going. Hocevar’s problems didn’t.
His afternoon took another turn on Lap 203 when the No. 77 went around yet again, bringing out another caution.
“I was sideways… no flats,” Hocevar said afterward.
This time, there was no dramatic recovery coming. Hocevar fell multiple laps behind the leaders, effectively ending any realistic chance of contending for a strong finish.
The frustration of Sunday becomes even more significant when viewed alongside the two races that preceded it.
Hocevar’s Slump Is Coming at the Worst Possible Time
Hocevar’s season has rarely been boring, but the last three weeks have taken a particularly damaging turn.
He left Iowa with a 31st-place finish. One week later at Richmond, he finished 37th and last in the field. Those two results alone dropped him six positions in the Cup Series standings, leaving him 11th entering New Hampshire.
And Sunday was supposed to be the opportunity to stop the bleeding.
Instead, Hocevar found himself multiple laps down following another afternoon filled with trouble.
The timing makes the skid particularly painful. New Hampshire is the penultimate race of the regular season, with only Daytona remaining before the 16-driver Chase field is set.
Hocevar has shown plenty of speed throughout 2026, including his trip to Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway back in April. He showed it again Sunday when he recovered from his pre-race spin to race his way into third by the end of Stage 1.
But speed hasn’t been the problem lately. Turning it into complete races has.
Three weeks ago, Hocevar was higher in the standings. Since then, the finishes have gone 31st, 37th and, barring a remarkable late turnaround at New Hampshire, another result well outside the front of the field.
At the worst possible point of the season , Hocevar keeps heading in the wrong direction.
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