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Portage native Carson Hocevar finishes fifth in Daytona debut

18-year-old impresses in first race of 2021
Carson Hocevar finishes top five at Daytona
Posted at 12:23 AM, Feb 13, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-13 00:29:01-05

DAYTONA BEACH, Mich. — Portage, Michigan native Carson Hocevar didn't disappoint in his Daytona super speedway debut.

Hocevar, who just turned 18 at the end of January, came home fifth in the NASCAR Truck Series race on Friday night.

"This is pretty huge to have a shot there at the end," Hocevar told Kevtron Media, "it wasn't much of a shot but you're still there on the last lap, we took that P5 finish, think we were like 16th going down the back straight away."

The 16th place position turned into a top five after several trucks were caught up in a crash heading towards the finish line.

"We missed the big wreck at the end and capped off what we could," he added.

"It's pretty big for me," Hocevar admitted, "especially getting the year started off right, me throwing away a lot of potential good finishes last year, to get the good finish when it counts when we're racing for points but it hasn't sunk in yet."

Hocevar is the full-time driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet this season on the NASCAR Truck Series circuit and will look to build off of the momentum next week right back at Daytona but on the road course on Friday night, February 19.