Spire Rides Momentum into Uncertain Watkins Glen Weekend
Rain looms, but team’s surge continues with Hocevar leading charge.
Spire Rides Momentum into Uncertain Watkins Glen Icon Sportswire - Getty Images The weather forecast for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series activity at Watkins Glen International in New York is not particularly pleasant. Weather gurus call for a good chance of rain Saturday and a better chance Sunday, Cup race day. None of that is likely to dampen the mood at Spire Motorsports, which enters the weekend still aglow from Carson Hocevar’s popular victory at Talladega Superspeedway, a sweep of the front row in Texas Motor Speedway qualifying, and the team’s general rise through the NASCAR landscape.
Hocevar, NASCAR’s current golden boy (and an attendee at Monday’s exclusive Met Gala fashion extravaganza, along with Beyonce, Nicole Kidman, Serena Williams, and Steph Curry, in New York City), rides in sixth place in Cup points heading to Watkins Glen. The only Chevrolet driver ahead of Hocevar in points is Sunday’s Texas winner, Chase Elliott, who is third. Daniel Suarez, Hocevar’s teammate, is 14th in points, placing him in front of Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Busch, among other notables.
Daniel Suarez. Icon Sportswire - Getty Images If the Chase started today, Spire would fill two of the 16 spots in the field. At the end of last season, Spire’s point positions were 22nd (Michael McDowell), 23rd (Hocevar), and 31st (Justin Haley).
Hocevar said the 77 team is “right where we want to be. It was obviously a really cool thing to get the win for Jeff (Dickerson) and everyone at Spire Motorsports, and while we are sixth in points with 98 points on the Chase cutline, we lost out on some points at times this year, too. We got turned while leading at Daytona and lost spots on late-race restarts at Bristol and Richmond.