CUP: Carson Hocevar’s slide down the standings continues with blown engine in Richmond
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: NASCAR on USA, @NASCARonUSA
Carson Hocevar picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at the Richmond Raceway when his #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet lost the engine after he completed 279 of 400 laps.
The finish, which came in Hocevar’s 105th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since March 23, 2025 at Homestead, 54 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 45th for the #77, the 728th from an engine, and the 894th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 59th for the #77, the 1,168th from the engine, and the 2,059th for Chevrolet.
Hocevar has become one of the most compelling storylines of the 2026 Cup Series season, and has further elevated him into one of the most popular drivers on the circuit. After several near-misses last year, the driver nicknamed “The Hurricane” finally broke through this past spring at Talladega, where he performed a memorable victory celebration by doing a burnout while dangling precariously from the driver’s side window. This win was quickly followed by a sixth career Truck Series victory the very next week in Texas, where he also campaigned the black version of his iconic Chili’s “Ride the ‘Dente” paint scheme. He’s enjoyed other strong runs since then, earning poles at both Texas and Indianapolis, plus a 5th-place showing in Michigan, 3rd at Atlanta, and a 9th at Indy. But his 31st-place run last week in Iowa was his fourth finish outside the Top 20 since his Talladega win, dropping him from 5th to 8th in the point standings.
Hocevar arrived in Richmond as one of 37 entrants, and wouldn’t be running double-duty with the weekend’s Truck Series race. On Friday, he ranked 13th in practice with a best lap of 23.027 seconds (117.254mph). His metric rank gave him an early draw in qualifying, taking to the track in the 13th spot. He ended up mid-pack, securing the 22nd starting spot with a speed of 22.632 seconds (119.300mph), just over four-tenths off Ryan Blaney’s pole.
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Cody Ware, whose #51 Rocket Doctor Chevrolet was the only car unable to log a lap in qualifying after a transaxle failure sent him spinning into Turn 3 during practice. The repairs didn’t constitute a redundant tail-end penalty, and with no other drivers penalized, he remained the last car on the inside line for the start of Saturday’s race.
When the green flag dropped, Ware was last across the stripe, 3.550 seconds back of the led, and just under 0.040 second behind 36th-place running Josh Bilicki, who trailed the outside line in the Garage 66 entry, the #66 Southern Tier Security Ford. Heading into the corner, Bilicki got a run to the outside of Noah Gragson’s #4 Long John Silver’s Ford, but Gragson got a better drive off, letting Ware follow him past on the inside. Bilicki then got loose at corner exit, letting Ware clear Bilicki by open track. By Lap 5, as team owner Carl Long told his crew to make sure they had functioning radios, Bilicki was 6.297 seconds back of the lead and about three-tenths back of Ware.
Further ahead, Ware contested the 35th spot, held at the time by Tyler Reddick’s #45 Pinnacle Toyota. Ware cleared him on Lap 6, but Reddick battled back alongside him on Lap 9, then cleared him on Lap 12. Ahead of the pair, Zane Smith started to lose ground in his #38 Aaron’s Rent to Own Ford was stuck in the low lane and losing spots, falling back to 31st. Around this time, Bilicki made a charge at Ware for 35th, but lost ground after Ware pulled away off Turn 2. By Lap 15, the gap between both drivers increased to a second, then 1.5 seconds on Lap 21.
With the leaders now bearing down on him, Bilicki reported his car was too tight, though he remained on the lead lap on Lap 27, 22.114 seconds back of the lead. On Lap 29, Ware was in another battle for 35th, this time with Ty Dillon in the #10 Beaver Street Fisheries Chevrolet, and cleared him off Turn 3. Seconds later, at the start of Lap 30, race leader Ryan Blaney got under Bilicki entering Turn 1, putting him a lap down. Seconds after that, Dillon dove onto pit road along with some of the leaders, dropping Dillon to last place and two laps down on Lap 30. The rest of the field soon followed for their own green-flag stops, dropping Gragson to last on Lap 34, then Ware again on Lap 36, by which point Dillon made up a lap and held 35th.
During this sequence, Austin Hill pitted his #33 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet, but the crew let a tire roll on pit road, handing him an uncontrolled tire penalty. Hill served his pass-through penalty on Lap 36, the same lap Ty Gibbs served his speeding penalty in the #54 Victory Junction Toyota. Gibbs held onto the lead lap, but Hill fell to last place by Lap 38.
Meanwhile, Bilicki stretched his first run to Lap 39, allowing him to climb as high as 5th on Lap 37 before he plummeted to 20th, then finally came down pit road. He returned to the track two laps down in last place, and remained in that position through the end of Stage 1 on Lap 71. Just before the caution fell, Bilicki was caught up in a tight battle for 6th between Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace, who traded positions before they crossed the stripe. Under the yellow, Bilicki reported his car was tight rolling the center, but was more concerned his car had trouble getting good drive-off the corner. Long radioed back, calling for a half-turn up in the right-rear and half-turn down in the left-rear. They completed this stop on Lap 76, and the Lap 79 restart came so quickly that Bilicki’s was one of at least a half-dozen cars still catching up to the field as the leaders took the green.
Holding 36th on the restart was A.J. Allmendinger in the #16 Black’s Tire / Down East Heating & Air Chevrolet, who by Lap 85 climbed to 35th past Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the #47 Brazier Lumber Company Chevrolet. On Lap 89, Bilicki’s spotter said he was running laps three-tenths of a second faster than either of those drivers, but he was running by himself, watching in the distance as both Allmendinger and Stenhouse dropped Ware back to 36th. During this run, Bilicki was told the leaders were running a lane down the frontstretch while Connor Zilisch in the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet didn’t seem to be making up ground by running the high lane in the corners.
On Lap 109, Blaney got under Bilicki in Turn 1 to put him a third lap down, the pass shown on camera during the USA broadcast, including 2nd-place Briscoe’s move past the #66. The leaders then caught 36th-place Ware by Lap 114, putting him a second lap down. On Lap 116, Bilicki radioed that he was “sliding the tires like through the center – I need more turn in the center.” A few laps later on the 121st circuit, Allmendinger and Ware made pit stops, dropping Allmendinger to 36th behind Ware, both three laps down and on the same lap as Bilicki.
As more cars started to pit, an ill-timed caution fell on Lap 125 when Zane Smith snapped loose off Turn 2 and slammed the wall with the left-rear of his #38. The caution shuffled the field and scattered strategies, during which Smith limped to pit road to address a bent toe link in the left-rear. The repairs took long enough that by Lap 127, Smith fell four laps down, taking last from Bilicki, who reported he still needed help with the drive-off and his car’s tight handling in the center. Smith’s crew changed left-side tires and sent him back out on Lap 130, where the pace car had already beaten him off pit exit, putting him six laps down. He pitted again on Lap 131 as the leaders took the one-to-go signal, reporting his steering wheel was knocked askew “at like 4 or 5 o’clock.” He took on fresh right-side tires, dropped to the rear, and took the restart on Lap 133 now seven laps back.
Smith still wasn’t happy with his car’s handling, reporting on Lap 154 that it was “starting to lock-up pretty bad.” The team already discussed the possibility of parking their car rather than risk further damage. Meanwhile, Bilicki in 36th lost a fourth lap by Lap 159, and on Lap 162, Smith’s team discussed whether they should go to the garage for further repairs. On Lap 164, Smith lost an eighth lap, and the crew was checking with NASCAR which entrance to the garage they should use. They settled on the one by the Sunoco sign past pit exit at Turn 1. As Smith prepared to come in, he was passed by several cars, including both Bilicki and Ware, who had caught each other on track in a new battle for 35th. By Lap 167, Smith made it to pit road, then pulled into the entrance on Lap 169. On Lap 171, he was in Garage Stall 5, where the crew lifted the hood. On Lap 186, Smith re-fired the engine and drove toward the scoring pylon in the middle of the infield. There, he stopped for a moment to index his wheel, but still felt his steering was off. By Lap 188, he was back on pit road, where he stopped in his stall, No. 23, just past the starting line. He was back up to speed on Lap 191, now 30 laps down to the leaders. And once again, all 37 starters were still rolling.
Smith didn’t lose another lap by the time Stage 2 ended on Lap 231, but the driver reported he was “just plowing across the middle.” He then continued, saying, “I don’t know if something’s wrong, but I’ve never been this bad here,” indicating the car was already handling poorly even before the accident. Both the front and especially the rear tires were sliding, forcing him to use the throttle to keep from crashing. By the Lap 241 restart, he’d lost another lap, now 31 behind the field, and continued to report his car was extremely tight. On Lap 268, Smith’s crew had apparently given up their plan of parking the car and discussed putting a round in the right-rear on their next stop. They matched their strategy to that of 25th-place Hill, saying on Lap 279 that they would come in when he did. Hill pitted on Lap 280, so Smith followed the next time by, then almost collided with Allmendinger as he pulled off pit road. Drawing alongside him to his left was Hocevar, who had not contended for much of the night, and was just exiting his stall. The stop dropped him from 25th to 32nd. On Lap 285, while heading into Turn 3, Hocevar appeared to shift into the wrong gear, pegging the rpms on his engine, and stalling him in the high lane at Turn 4. The caution took a moment to come out – just enough time for Kyle Larson to snatch away the Lucky Dog from Ty Gibbs – and again a round of green-flag stops was interrupted by caution.
On Lap 285, Hocevar had fallen back to 35th, five laps down, and was pushed down the banking toward the garage, followed by a push truck. His engine made a sick noise before it shut off in the infield, where he coasted on another push toward Garage Stall No. 4. On Lap 293, as the field took the restart, Hocevar climbed out from his car while his crew discussed both the kill switch and the battery. NASCAR declared Hocevar the first car out of the race on Lap 309, citing engine failure, and Smith finally climbed past him into 36th on Lap 312. He climbed no further, finishing the race 34 laps down. Bilicki remained 35th, nine laps down, with Ware and Allmendinger completing the Bottom Five.
As with the Truck Series race earlier in the day, Hocevar was the race’s only DNF. With two races left in the regular season, he now stands 11th in points, 128 points ahead of 17th-ranked Ryan Preece.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish of the 2026 Cup Series season for Spire Motorsports.
*This was the first last-place run for the #77 in a Cup race at Richmond since April 18, 2021, when Justin Haley’s #77 Diamond Creek Water Chevrolet lost the engine after completing just the opening lap.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #77-Carson Hocevar / 279 laps / engine
36) #38-Zane Smith / 366 laps / running
35) #66-Josh Bilicki / 391 laps / running
34) #51-Cody Ware / 392 laps / running
33) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 394 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Trackhouse Racing (5)
2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing (4)
3rd) Hendrick Motorsports (3)
4th) 23XI Racing, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports (2)
5th) Garage 66, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (14)
2nd) Toyota (5)
3rd) Ford (4)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
