Portage native Carson Hocevar was named this week as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
Hocevar earned the honors on the strength of one top-five, six top-10 and 13 top-15 finishes. In his first full-season at the controls of the Spire Motorsports No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro, Hocevar brought home a career best third-place finish in the Cup Series September visit to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Hocevar impressed throughout his rookie campaign, accumulating 686 points and being the top finishing rookie in 15 races on NASCAR’s senior circuit. He out-distanced fellow rookie Josh Berry by 107 points when the checkered flag fell on Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
“Being named Sunoco Rookie of the Year is special,” said Hocevar. “I got beat out for Rookie of the Year in the CRAFTSMAN Truck series, and I didn’t run in the Xfinity Series full time so to win the award in the NASCAR Cup Series is a huge accomplishment for our whole team. It definitely didn’t come easy. Josh (Berry) has won a bunch of Xfinity races, and the No. 4 team won tons of races and a championship with Rodney (Childers) and (Kevin) Harvick. We also had Zane (Smith) in contention, who raced for Spire Motorsport and has won several Truck Series races and a championship. It was a good group of accomplished drivers vying for it, and it means a lot to come out on top. We ran really strong at the end of the year and were able to pull away in terms of points. These last several weeks show our capabilities as a team.
“The award will be something that will live with me my whole career, and I’m proud to be known as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year. There’s an elite list of guys who have won it, and many of them went on to win races and championships. The award is something you only have one shot at. You can never go back and try to win Rookie or the Year later down the line. It is the only thing like that in racing. It is cool to win something so significant this year, and the mission is now to get the No. 77 car in the playoffs in 2025.”
Hocevar’s #77 was sponsored in 9 races by the Kalamazoo based Zeigler Auto Group, including the season opening Daytona 500, and the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The 21-year-old made his NCS debut for Spire Motorsports on June 4, 2020 at World Wide Technology Raceway. In addition to his NCS debut, Hocevar made four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for Spire Motorsports in 2023, with a pair of top-10 finishes coming in May at Darlington Raceway (sixth) and Charlotte Motor Speedway (eighth).
