Carson Hocevar is headed back to Michigan International Speedway this weekend, returning to the Truck Series at his home track after Spire Motorsports used replacement drivers in the No. 77 truck for two recent races. The move brings him back into a series seat he had been absent from at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway.
That matters now because Hocevar has spent much of the season juggling Cup Series and Truck Series duty for Spire, and Michigan is one of the few places on the schedule that carries a personal edge. The 22-year-old from Portage, Michigan, ran eight of the season’s first nine races in the Cup Series, missing only the inaugural street race in St. Petersburg, Florida when the schedule put the series at Circuit of the Americas the same weekend.
Spire first shifted Hocevar out of the No. 77 truck for Charlotte so he could focus on the Coca-Cola 600, and Connor Zilisch took over there. Zilisch also drove for the team earlier in May at Watkins Glen International. Hocevar then did not return for Nashville, where Jesse Love stepped in after not having run a Truck Series race since 2023. The team has not yet said who will drive the truck for the next two races after Michigan.
Hocevar’s return also brings him back to a track where he has already logged one Truck Series start, finishing 11th there a year ago. His better Cup Series result at Michigan came in 2024, when he finished 10th. For Spire, the weekend restores a familiar driver to the home-state oval; for Hocevar, it is a chance to reset in front of a Michigan crowd while the No. 77 seat remains unsettled beyond this week.
The unanswered part is now the immediate one: who takes the truck for the inaugural race at Qualcomm Circuit on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego later this month, and then Lime Rock Park in July. Until Spire names those drivers, Michigan is a return, not a finish line.
