Carson Hocevar says an enthusiastic Talladega tow truck driver kept his race alive after the late wreck that flipped Joey Logano. That driver’s quick work turned a wrecked No. 77 Chevrolet into a sixth-place finish, and Hocevar says he still wants to learn the man’s name.
Hocevar later took the blame for instigating the Logano crash. But unlike Logano, Hocevar got his car back into the Talladega race with the help of a tow truck driver.
“The tow truck driver was a massive MVP of the situation. So, I’m down the backstretch, right? And I’ve got four flat tires, can’t go anywhere. I’m in the wall,” Hocevar said, on the Turn Four Report podcast Tuesday.
“Normally, they come up to the door and they’re like, ‘Are you okay? Are you all right? What’s the plan?’ None of that was asked. Nothing. All of a sudden, the tow truck driver runs over. He goes, ‘Hey, man, I’m going to keep you in the race.’ And I was like, ‘Sounds good. Go!’”
“And he’s like, ‘All right,’ and then takes off, gets in the truck, slams the door, and we start going 45 mph on the tow truck. We pass cars that are trying to limp to pit road,” Hocevar said.
Carson Hocevar’s Role in the Talladega Wreck
The wreck came on lap 183 of the YellaWood 500, five laps from the scheduled finish. Logano was shoving Ross Chastain, who led the outside lane, when Hocevar pushed him from behind, according to Sports Illustrated.
Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford spun into the outside wall and landed on its roof, sliding down the frontstretch. A 15-car pileup followed, collecting Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry and Riley Herbst, according to The Associated Press.
“I was inching at him in the tri-oval, because obviously we need to have to do that in the third lane, and yeah, I just spun him. But I was more so looking at my rearview, so that’s on me for that, but yeah, that’s my fault,” he told reporters, according to On3.
Hocevar said he was watching his mirror to judge how the lanes would merge when he felt the bump.
“I only really got flats and a hole in the right side door, but other than that, I was fine. … They have to push me out of the garage, so we had everybody back there, so they put four tires on, pushed me out of the garage, and I got going,” Hocevar said.
Hocevar started 26th and lost ground to a pit-road speeding penalty before working toward the front, according to EssentiallySports. He finished sixth on the lead lap, 0.182 seconds behind winner Kyle Larson, and collected 31 points, according to TobyChristie.com.
Carson Hocevar’s Tow Truck Help Under NASCAR Rules
The Damaged Vehicle Policy covers the help Hocevar described. NASCAR provides limited assistance, including a lift system or tow straps, to a car stopped by flat tires, and towed cars go to the garage repair area, as laid out in Rule 8.8.9, according to Jayski.
Before the 2025 rewrite, a tow to the garage ended a car’s race, according to NASCAR’s January 2025 announcement. Repairs in the garage carry no time limit, and a returning car gets one attempt to reach minimum speed.
“I need to find this tow truck guy’s name. I don’t know if it’s legal or not, but I was like, ‘Dude, that dude needs a couple hundred bucks or something, or at least some gift card,’” Hocevar said on the podcast.
The rule text does not address gratuities, and no penalty tied to the recovery has been reported.
Hocevar, 23, was born Jan. 28, 2003, in Portage, Michigan, and began racing quarter midgets at age 7. He debuted in the Truck Series in 2019, won five races in 2023 and reached the Championship 4 with Niece Motorsports. He moved to the Cup Series full time in 2024 and won his first Cup race April 26 at Talladega, beating Chris Buescher by 0.114 seconds.
NASCAR’s Carson Hocevar Explains How He Stayed in Race After Talladega Crash