After staying quiet for much of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night, Carson Hocevar surged into the lead with 40 laps to go and never looked back.
The No. 42 Niece Motorsports driver battled back and forth with Zane Smith in the closing minutes of the 150-lap race, but Hocevar was able to fend off the No. 38’s attacks and take the glory in the Rackley Roofing 200.
“I’m so excited, I get to hold a trophy. I led it to the white flag and carried it around, so I can finally get that out of the way and hopefully that puts away the doubters,” Hocevar said in his post-race interview on FS1.
The win marked his second victory of the season.
Meanwhile, Smith settled for second after putting forth a strong run in his Front Row Motorsports entry.
“It’s frustrating, I really want to win at this place,” Smith said. “We just needed to be better on restarts. He (Hocevar) had the clean air, and we did not.”
Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez finished third after leading 37 laps early in the race. TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim was fourth and Niece Motorsports’ Bayley Currey collected his second career top-five finish.
How It Happened
Polesitter Sanchez was out front when the green flag waved with GMS Racing’s Rajah Caruth in tow.
Hailie Deegan spun on lap five after hitting the apron, making contact with Lawless Alan and bringing out the first caution of the race.
On lap 25, it was Sanchez, Caruth, Hocevar, Smith and Currey running in the top five.
The battle for the lead was raging between Sanchez and Caruth on lap 25, as the No. 24 Chevrolet attempted to slide past the Rev Racing entry. Caruth officially took first position on lap 37 and led his first career lap. However, it was short-lived, as the fuel pressure went out in the No. 24 on lap 38 and he was forced to pit.
Smith capitalized and went on to claim the stage one win on lap 45.
Currey was also able to lead his first career lap during stage two. The No. 41 Niece Motorsports driver cleared Heim to take the lead on lap 62, but again, he didn’t stay for long. Heim was antsy in second and retook the lead on lap 64.
Daniel Dye spun on lap 94, bringing out another caution. He also collected Brett Holmes and Layne Riggs after getting loose in the outside groove. The second stage ended the following lap, with Heim, Hocevar, Matt DiBenedetto, Smith and Ben Rhodes completing the top five.
Heim and Hocevar led the final stage restart with 48 laps to go.
At 45 laps to go, Christian Eckes got into Dean Thompson, with the No. 5 taking on significant damage during the incident that ended his race.
But after 40 to go, the storyline remained the same out front — it was Hocevar all the way.
Behind him, Smith made several key passes, moving from fourth to second. Sanchez also made a final surge with three laps remaining, passing Heim to secure third place in Music City.