MARNE, Mich. — Carson Hocevar finally visited victory lane in the Battle at Berlin 250 at his home state Berlin Raceway.
Hocevar proved to be in a league of his own during the UARA National Series with a car that was efficient in every groove. After fending off fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor Erik Jones on the last restart of the night, nothing could stop Hocevar from claiming his maiden Battle at Berlin 250 triumph.
Nothing came easy for Hocevar as he had to play both offense and defense with Jones and defending winner Bubba Pollard during the closing stages. Hocevar was unsure whether he was too aggressive earlier in the run, but he proved to have enough left to pull away from Jones when it mattered.
“This car was so fun to drive,” said Hocevar after the $40,000 score. “Erik and Bubba are super talented, and those cars are really good. I thought I burned the right-rear [tire] completely off and didn‘t think we were going to get a shot. If I could slide up and take [Erik‘s] line away, I might be able to clear him, and that‘s exactly what happened.
“It‘s special to win here, and this was the biggest one of them all.”
Hocevar‘s early success at Berlin was crucial in paving the way for him to become a full-time Cup Series competitor.
Along with claiming a track championship in 2017 at just 14 years old, Hocevar also has two Money in the Bank 150 victories on his resume (2020 and 2021). The laps and accomplishments accumulated at Berlin only motivated Hocevar more to win the Battle at Berlin 250.
Qualifying set the tone for Hocevar and the rest of the field Wednesday afternoon, as he set the quickest lap of the session at 16.430 seconds. An invert relegated Hocevar to eighth on the starting grid, but it only took 10 laps for him to reach and secure the lead.
Once he had control of the pace, the next step for Hocevar was to master the tire strategy. He elected to stick to a three-tire strategy through both of his trips to pit road, which kept him at the front of the field but left a smaller margin of error when it came to overexerting his equipment.
The divergent strategy proved to have minimal impact on Hocevar‘s overall performance even though he briefly lost the lead to Jones. Despite doing everything feasible to anticipate and withstand the assault from Hocevar, Jones ended up settling for second after Hocevar‘s race-winning dive on the restart.
Jones entered Wednesday evening having gone winless in the Battle at Berlin 250 since 2016. He feels comfortable with where his Super Late Model program stands, but he admitted his car was not strong enough to keep Hocevar in his rearview mirror.
“I was just too tight,” Jones said. “We were kind of third there all day and needed to make an adjustment. We got the lead, and I was trying to hold it, but it didn‘t work out. It‘s hard to be that close, but we had a clean car, and that‘s all we can ask for.”
With the 2024 Battle at Berlin 250 now in the record books, Jones is turning his attention toward Richmond Raceway on Sunday, when the Cup Series returns to action following a two-week sabbatical.
For Hocevar, the detour to his home track before the end of the Olympic break was equal parts fun and challenging. He had no idea what to expect from a tire perspective, which made it even more rewarding for Hocevar‘s strategy to pay off with a Battle at Berlin 250 trophy now in his possession.
“[Going with three tires] probably put us at a little bit of a disadvantage compared to the guys who took four,” Hocevar said. “Track position was so important, but [the strategy] also gave us an idea on what the car was going to do. You never know with this place, but everybody did a really good job trying to keep on this thing.
“I had my tongue out the whole time, but luckily it was just enough.”
Hocevar only has a few days to prepare for another short track in Richmond, where he looks to parlay his crown jewel victory at Berlin into a career-best Cup Series performance this weekend.
Pollard placed third in the running order behind Hocevar and Jones, with Michael Atwell and Kole Raz completing the top five.
The finish:
Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones, Bubba Pollard, Michael Atwell, Kole Raz, Evan Szotko, Brian Campbell, Chase Burda, Jeremy Doss, Treyten Lapcevich, Andrew Sheid, Dylan Stovall, Austin Hull, Kyle Crump, Levie Jones, Keith Herp, Derek Griffith, Blake Rowe, Chris Shannon, Austin Teras, Brian Bergakker, Steve Needeles, Kendrick Kreyer, Derek Lemke, Jason Vail, Scott Thomas, Tyler Rycenga, Gavin Boschele, Joe Bush, Katie Hettinger.