Gragson, Hocevar fall short of victory lane but net solid finishes at Indy
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Strategies didn’t fall in Noah Gragson and Carson Hocevar’s favor to win the Brickyard 400 but they still netted solid finishes Sunday.
Hocevar, in particular, didn’t need friends to get there Sunday. On lap 111 of 160, he made contact with Ryan Blaney on the restart, wrecking Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson out of the race.
It was during that caution that Hocevar stayed out after pitting for two fresh tires and fuel on lap 102. After drivers pitted during the 11-lap green flag run after the Johnson/Logano incident, Hocevar was second to Noah Gragson who also pitted on lap 102.
Under caution on lap 126, they bowed out and pitted as they were well within their 40-lap window to make it to the end on fuel.
Gragson and Hocevar were 24th and 27th, respectively, when the race went green again with 31 laps to go. As the laps clicked by, they had trouble making any progress, finding themselves in 20th and 24th when a caution flew with two laps to go.
Other drivers’ stops put Gragson and Hocevar to 13th and 16th, respectively, for the first overtime. A wreck provoked another overtime and allowed them to get four more spots, finishing ninth and 12th in double overtime.
Had they gotten a third overtime attempt, Noah Gragson or Carson Hocevar could have contended for their first NASCAR Cup Series win. Six drivers in front of them were running very low on fuel, even at the end of the second attempt.
That third attempt very nearly came into play when Ryan Preece wrecked during the second overtime. Had NASCAR thrown the caution before Kyle Larson took the white flag, Gragson and Hocevar could’ve hopped over those six and vied for the win.
Had one of them been able to capture their first win, it would have been a huge blow to the drivers right around the playoff cutline.
Gragson and Hocevar will both need a win to qualify for the playoffs. Gragson is 168 points below the cutline while Hocevar is 167 points below the cutline.
The final four tracks of the regular season include three repeat tracks: Richmond Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
Here is how Gragson and Hocevar fared at those tracks earlier this year:
| Track | Noah Gragson | Carson Hocevar |
| Richmond | 12th | 27th |
| Daytona | Ninth | 40th |
| Darlington | 14th | 26th |
Richmond is first after the Olympic break. The NASCAR Cup Series’ Cook Out 400 is August 11 with the green flag at around 6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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