Carson Hocevar is in the middle of a breakthrough NASCAR Cup Series season. The Spire Motorsports driver will enter Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 fifth in the Cup standings, sitting ahead of all Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) cars.

Hocevar took his first Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway in April. He beat Chris Buescher by 0.114 seconds in a three-lap shootout to get his first series win in his 91st start. He also won his second pole of the 2026 Cup season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and led 31 laps before finishing ninth.

Ahead of qualifying for the NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway, the 23-year-old broke down Spire’s close technical relationship with HMS.

“Hendrick and engine shop and everything they like seeing us run really good. I know Mr. H does it because he likes to see seven cars rather than just four and have shots,” Carson Hocevar said.

“They look at it like a seven car deal because of the close alliance and everything that they just get more shots to hopefully win races because it has Hendrick engines in it, Hendrick pit crews, and people he employs are on those cars. And obviously, Jeff’s like a son to him per se.”

Carson Hocevar is ahead of all four HMS drivers, including Chase Elliott, who sits sixth in the standings. Kyle Larson is eighth, William Byron 12th and Alex Bowman 29th.

“A live look at what me and my friends think is funny” – Carson Hocevar on his hour-long posting spree

Earlier in the week, Carson Hocevar was busy sharing multiple random thoughts. He also claimed that he lost a bet and had to tweet every 30 seconds.

On Saturday, the No. 77 driver said the mass posting spree was not part of any serious social media strategy. He was bored and having fun with his friends.

“Just started tweeting for an hour of how it used to be in the old Twitter. We had like Ratatouille up and we were making Ratatouille bits, and so I just started live-tweeting. You just basically got a live look at what me and my friends think is funny for an hour,” Hocevar said.

Meanwhile, Hocevar posted a 23.655-second lap around the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway and qualified 18th. Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson qualified second, Byron 19th, Bowman 30th and Elliott 32nd.

The Iowa Corn 350 is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network.