Carson Hocevar reflected on what happened between himself and Connor Zilisch in Sunday’s Cup Series race at New Hampshire. The driver of the No. 77 spun out after contact with Zilisch, which forced him to go one lap behind in the early laps of the second stage.
Hocevar went as far as two laps behind and suffered another spin-out in the final stage. However, the driver of the No. 77 managed to get back on the lead lap at one point and wound up finishing 19th.
Hocevar on Zilisch incident: ‘I think I spun myself’
Hocevar spoke with following the Dollar Tree 301 at “The Magic Mile” in what was an up and down day for the Spire Motorsports driver.In the early laps of Stage 2, Hocevar’s No. 77 car went spinning down the frontstretch after contact with Zilisch’s front bumper. The contact was Hocevar’s doing, he said, believing he triggered the incident by driving into Zilisch’s No. 88 machine.
“I think I spun myself. He got into me and I thought I was clear or something. I don’t know what I did. I turned left to try and get to the bottom and cover it and I think pretty much spun myself. Luckily, I didn’t kill my car and ruin another week for us. I think I spun myself pretty easily,” Hocevar said.
Hocevar doubled down on his stance that he believes he spun himself out and joked that he has a knack for “finishing the job,” therefore saying the contact between he and Zilisch was not intentional.
“I wrecked myself there. In the past, I’ve been pretty good at finishing the job, so that wasn’t by any means that,” Hocevar said.
NASCAR Cup Series slump continued for Hocevar at New Hampshire
Carson Hocevar climbed as high as fifth in the points standings following last month’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Then came the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, and it has been all downhill from there for “The Hurricane.”The 23-year-old was bitten by mechanical problems at Iowa and ultimately scored a difficult 31st-place finish. In the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway two weeks ago, Hocevar suffered his first DNF of the 2026 season after a transmission failure. He wound up finishing 37th.
While Hocevar ultimately salvaged a 19th-place effort at New Hampshire, it was a day that started out promising as he finished third in Stage 1.
The recent skid in performance has mired Hocevar back to 11th in the points standings. Although he clinched a spot in the Chase in Loudon, the recent struggles have cost him in his chance for a high seeding for the 10-race Chase.
Hocevar has made waves this season, however, winning his first Cup Series race earlier this year at Talladega. He has five top-five finishes and nine top-10 results.
