FORT WORTH — Rookie Nick Sanchez dominated Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway but lost control on the final lap, and Carson Hocevar pounced on the opportunity to pick up his first victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Hocevar was behind Sanchez after a double-overtime restart as Sanchez battled side by side with defending series champion Zane Smith. After the leaders took the white flag to begin the final lap, Sanchez and Smith made slight contact.
Sanchez spun to the left and across the nose of the hard-charging Hocevar. Smith kept his No. 38 Ford straight in the outside lane, but Sanchez’s No. 2 Chevrolet shot from the infield grass back up to the wall and clipped the rear end of Smith’s truck.
Fourth-place Christian Eckes also was collected in the crash, and Hocevar was all alone in the lead as the caution flag flew to freeze the field and end the SpeedyCash.com 250.
Hocevar, a 20-year-old from Portage, Michigan, is in his third full-time season. His 10 previous top-five finishes included four runner-up showings.
“All of a sudden [Sanchez] hooked left and kind of came back right,” Hocevar said. “I was planning on filling the hole. You don’t want to ever wreck a guy, especially at these speeds.
“He just came off the grass sideways, and the second I touched him he was around.”
Hocevar drives the No. 42 Chevy for Niece Motorsports. Owner Al Niece’s Buda-based water truck company has a facility in Fort Worth and a new partnership with TMS.
“Every media outlet and every friend and family can finally stop saying, ‘Today’s your day.’ Today was finally our day,” Hocevar said. “If I wake up tomorrow and never get to drive a race car again, I’ll always have a trophy with my name on it. You don’t know when your last day is and you don’t know the last race you’re going to run, and I’m just glad that I got that one.”
Sanchez had been in a class of his own and led 168 of the 172 laps. In the 45-lap final stage, Smith got to his rear bumper several times but could not complete a pass. In Stage 3 and OT, Sanchez took the inside lane for at least five restarts and held off Smith each time.
A major crash with 23 laps to go sent Dean Thompson to an area hospital. Thompson spun coming out of Turn 4, slid down the track into the path of Matt Mills and took a massive hit, eventually collecting Trey Hutchens and Armani Williams.
NASCAR officials said during overtime that Thompson was still being evaluated in the infield medical center, then said after the race that he had been transported from the speedway.
Crashes with 11 laps remaining and six laps to go brought out the caution as Smith was attempting to pass Sanchez, then it happened again in the first overtime. In the second OT, Smith and Sanchez were part of the crash.
“He doors me right there, gets off me, drives it through the grass, and then I just get hooked,” Smith said. “We were in a great position to get our third win of the year, with the help of [Eckes] on that restart, and unfortunately I’m missing the back end of my F-150.”
Chase Purdy finished second to post his first career top-five result, followed by 2022 TMS winner Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia. Hailie Deegan finished sixth to match her career best.
Smith finished 14th, Eckes 15th and Sanchez 16th. Sanchez won Stages 1 and 2
“Me and [Smith] were playing an aggressive side-drafting game, and I feel I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass,” Sanchez said. “We don’t want to win; we want to dominate. Today we dominated, but we didn’t win.”
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