Nick Sanchez led an absolutely dominant 168 of 172 laps in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250, but the 21-year-old rookie and reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith collided at the front of the field after taking the white flag.
Instead, Carson Hocevar drove through to take his first career victory in double overtime at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 20-year-old Hocevar led only that last overtime lap in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet to claim his first win by 1.628-seconds over Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chase Purdy – career-best finishes for both drivers.
After slight contact with Smith racing door-to-door for the win, Sanchez got loose and had to regain control of the truck heading to the white flag. Video replays show that as he steadied his truck, he was hit from behind by Hocevar, whose truck was carrying the momentum as Sanchez was recovering from his slight miscue.
The contact from behind was just enough to spin Sanchez back across the track and collect Smith’s truck, while Hocevar drove forward to the finish line and waited for official word of the win.
“I didn’t mean to get into (Sanchez) I just meant to give him a push and he got sideways the second I hit him,” Hocevar said. “I apologize to them. I’ll take the fall for it. I wrecked a Chevy and I’ll go talk to him about it. He deserved to win, for sure.
“But all the times we were the fastest car and I don’t win, and this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now,” said Hocevar, who has four career runner-up finishes.
“We didn’t deserve to win today, but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
Certainly, Sanchez got plenty of practice in mastering re-starts with six of the 12 cautions coming in the final 40 laps of the race. He drove his No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet to the front each time, having to duel side-by-side with Smith late in the race.
“Obviously, coming to the last lap, me and the 38 (Zane Smith) were playing an aggressive side-drafting game and I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass and saved it,” Sanchez said. “Just got hit by the 42 (Hocevar). I don’t know what else to say about that.
“It is what it is; that’s racing.
“This is what we’ve been working hard to do,” continued Sanchez, who swept both stage wins. “We don’t want to just win, we want to dominate. Today we dominated, but we didn’t win so just got to go back and see what I can do better. Try to build on strengths. I guess, the positive is we got stage points, that’s something to fall back on. But I want to win, that’s my goal.”
Veteran Stewart Friesen finished third with Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia rounding out the top five — Garcia the highest-finishing rookie.
Hailie Deegan equaled her career-best finish with a sixth-place run. Corey Heim, Ryan Vargas, Jack Wood and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10.
Smith was scored 14th and Sanchez was scored 16th. The race leaves Majeski now with a three-point edge over Smith atop the championship standings.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action next week in Saturday’s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt track (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race — SpeedyCash.com 250
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Saturday, April 1, 2023
1. (5) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 172.
2. (14) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 172.
3. (7) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 172.
4. (3) Ty Majeski, Ford, 172.
5. (9) Jake Garcia #, Chevrolet, 172.
6. (25) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 172.
7. (4) Corey Heim, Toyota, 172.
8. (26) Ryan Vargas, Toyota, 172.
9. (2) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 172.
10. (10) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 172.
11. (27) Mason Massey, Ford, 172.
12. (23) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 172.
13. (21) Matt Crafton, Ford, 172.
14. (18) Zane Smith, Ford, 172.
15. (6) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 172.
16. (1) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, Accident, 171.
17. (13) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 171.
18. (19) Lawless Alan, Chevrolet, 170.
19. (15) Rajah Caruth #, Chevrolet, 169.
20. (24) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 169.
21. (29) Josh Reaume, Ford, 168.
22. (34) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 168.
23. (12) Bret Holmes #, Chevrolet, 167.
24. (17) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 166.
25. (20) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 165.
26. (8) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 164.
27. (11) Tanner Gray, Toyota, Accident, 161.
28. (16) Dean Thompson, Toyota, Accident, 143.
29. (32) Armani Williams, Toyota, Accident, 140.
30. (30) Trey Hutchens, Chevrolet, Accident, 137.
31. (28) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, Accident, 134.
32. (33) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Vibration, 122.
33. (31) Keith McGee, Ford, Vibration, 39.
34. (22) Chad Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 17.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 99.39 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 45 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: N. Sanchez # 1-25;C. Eckes 26;N. Sanchez # 27-35;C. Eckes 36;N. Sanchez # 37-77;B. Rhodes 78;N. Sanchez # 79-171;C. Hocevar 172.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Nick Sanchez # 4 times for 168 laps; Christian Eckes 2 times for 2 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 1 lap; Ben Rhodes 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,99,19,98,38,5,11,4,52,23
Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,19,99,5,38,15,11,4,17,88
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media