Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar (NASCAR Cup Series), Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love (NASCAR Xfinity Series) and Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs (NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series) claimed prestigious Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in their respective series—honors they all claim could be the big difference in propelling their careers forward.
Hocevar, 21, earned a career-best third place finish at the Watkins Glen, N.Y., road course and tallied six top 10s in the No. 77 Chevrolet in his first full season. But beyond the results on track, Hocevar hopes he has shown his fellow Cup competitors that he’s worthy.
“I don’t know if respect is the right word, but more so I think the ‘comfortability,’” the California-native Hocevar said. “(Team owner) Jeff Dickerson looked at me and said, ‘Man, you kind of made it.’
“I asked him what are you talking about and he said, ‘At Phoenix, Tyler Reddick kind of put his championship in your hands racing door-to-door with you for five laps. He wouldn’t have done that if he planned on you getting loose or not being able to control your stuff.’
“So that was kind of his reminder that there is still respect to be earned, but that everybody’s becoming more comfortable. And that’s a plus.”
Love, 19, conceded that earning rookie honors is a big achievement and a nod he’s headed in the right direction, but it wasn’t a title he was specifically aiming for. The Californian was the only rookie of the year to advance to a series Playoff. He won pole positions in the first two races of the year and scored his maiden Xfinity Series win at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in the spring.
In all, Love had seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 33 races and was eliminated from the championship before the final round.
“I don’t think anyone is fully satisfied if you’re not the champion, but at the same time, for me, it was one of those deals I didn’t expect the world, because I know how I am as a rookie is not super splashy,’’ Love said. “I think way too much to kind of fly by the seat of my pants.
“Once I figured out how to drive the cars and what my balance was and how to communicate better, that’s kind of my biggest thing, so next year is where I feel like I put the pressure on myself and figure out how good I’m going to be.”
Riggs, 22, earned his first two career victories in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series this year. Although he missed the postseason, Riggs won back-to-back Playoff races (at Milwaukee and Bristol, Tenn.) and then finished runner-up at Kansas during one three-race streak.
In all, he had seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and was ranked 11th in the final championship standings, highest among the non-Playoff drivers.
“Ninety percent of the tracks we go to I’d never see before so just trying to learn it all, gel with the team and basically a new team at the end of the day, everyone on the team was in a new position they had never been in before,’’ Riggs said, adding, “Just took a while to figure it all out and me get more consistent…
“Everything takes a little bit of time, and everybody asks, ‘What did you change to finally win races?’ and it was nothing, just finally got all the little details worked out.”
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