Carson Hocevar had a strong car in the 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he didn't have the strategy to win the event. On Sunday afternoon, Hocevar and the No. 77 team for Spire Motorsports finished in ninth place and had the fastest lap of the race, earning one extra point.
Following the event, Hocevar spoke about what went wrong for the No. 77 team at Indianapolis. Despite the lower-than-expected finish, it was a strong points day.
“The first caution just kind of put us into a bad spot on fuel," Hocevar said. "The reason why we took tires was just because we were going to have to wait on fuel, so we might as well just put four on. I was able to pass three cars, which might have been the most in the field, it seemed like.
When we got our No. 77 Chevrolet in clean air, we were kind of in our own zip code. Our lap times there at the end, we were way faster than most of the field. Overall, it was a good points day for this team. We were the top Chevy of the field, results-wise, and now were the top Chevy in the points standings, so that’s pretty good for us.”
Hocevar had a strong car in clean air, but he wasn't able to make it back to the front after losing the lead in Stage 1. While the driver of the No. 77 car could've competed for the win, he was the best Chevrolet in the finishing order. Now, Hocevar will focus on Iowa Speedway in two weeks, as he looks to gain even more points before the Chase.
This article originally appeared on Motorsports Wire: Carson Hocevar addresses loss in the 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indy
