ANDERSON, Ind. — 17-year-old racing prodigy Carson Hocevar continues to rack up the accolades. On Monday evening, the Portage native brought home the checkered flag in the prestigious Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway in Indiana.
It's the second consecutive year the No. 71 Lisa Thomas Salon Chevrolet found victory lane in the Redbud 400 after Coopersville's Johnny VanDoorn did it in 2019. VanDoorn recently welcomed the birth of his daughter, leading to Hocevar's opportunity to fill his seat. Johnny's brother, Butch, served as Hocevar's crew chief during Monday night's victory as well.
Even with the big shoes to fill, Hocevar didn't feel any pressure going in.
"I'm confident in my ability to come super race," Hocevar said in an interview with Matt Weaver of Short Track Scene, "it makes my job easier to know the car is capable of winning. It's on me if I don't win."
Hocevar led the final 175 laps of the race and won by .535 seconds.
"I never won a race last year, never won a super race other than a local race at Berlin," he added, "when you're expected to win every week, you're hard on yourself. You can't blame the race car each week, after three weeks you start thinking it's yourself."
It's Hocevar's second ARCA CRA victory of the year but his first at a race as highly regarded as the Redbud 400.
"My first crown jewel, it's spectacular," he added.
Kevtron Media contributed to this article.
