Spire Motorsports’ Cup cars all finish in the top-10 for the first time ever

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Putting all three cars inside the top-10 Sunday at Watkins Glen shows progress continues for Spire Motorsports.

Carson Hocevar led the way after starting the 90-lap Go Bowling at the Glen shotgun on the 38-driver field after a bizarre run through the boot in qualifying. Zane Smith wasn’t far behind, just ahead of Corey LaJoie who had the fourth-highest driver rating on the day (106.2).

The organization benefited from eight NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers staying out to collect bonus points in stage one. While four non-playoff drivers also stayed out, Smith, LaJoie and Hocevar did not. They benefitted, moving from 13th to fifth, 18th to sixth and 21st to ninth, to start stage two.

By the time the final stage went green on lap 43, all three of them employed different strategies:

• Hocevar pitted with Chris Buescher and others before the stage break
• Smith pitted during the break on lap 41
• LaJoie stayed out with leaders Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen

An unexpected caution ended the second stage under yellow, changing LaJoie’s strategy. Others followed suit, not wanting to be at a disadvantage on tires.

In the final stage, Hocevar pitted on lap 59, LaJoie on lap 67 and Smith on lap 70. Hocevar moved from sixth to third while LaJoie went from fifth to seventh and Smith moved from 23rd to 17th.

Newer tires came in handy for Smith when a caution on lap 80 bunched up the field and bred more cautions. When Brad Keselowski and William Byron wrecked on lap 83, Smith was 15th. Then, he was 10th on the restart on lap 87 and seventh to start overtime before rallying to fifth at the finish.

In the last 10 races, Smith has three Top-10 finishes and an average finish of 15.7, compared to 28.1 and no Top-10s in the first 18 races.

Carson Hocevar had the checkered flag in view, getting a great overtime restart alongside Chris Buescher on the front row before Shane van Gisbergen bumped Buescher up the track in turn one.

Hocevar finished third, scoring his first career Top-5 finish in the Cup Series – and fifth on the season and his career. It’s easily his best road course performance in the series. His other road course finishes were 24th at Chicago after a crash, 17th at Sonoma and 22nd at Circuit of the Americas.

Corey LaJoie finished eighth, passing Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece on the final lap. It’s LaJoie’s second Top-10 in three weeks when factoring in a ninth-place finish two weeks ago at Darlington. Before Darlington, his only other Top-10 this season was a fourth-place run in the Daytona 500. 

Next up is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway. Last year, LaJoie led 48 of 500 laps and placed second in the first stage. Hocevar made his first big splash that night, driving to fifth in stage two before finishing 11th.

The green flag in this year’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race is set to fly Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET (USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).