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."
It hadn’t sunk in during this picture. I was frustrated we weren’t doing burnouts on front stretch, but it’s hit me now how big of this is for myself. I through a lot of great runs away last year, feels good to finally give Al Niece and boys there what they really deserve. pic.twitter.com/9yFBr8gdqr
— Carson Hocevar (@CarsonHocevar) February 13, 2021
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.