Last weekend at the World Wide Technology Raceway, there were two debuts. First and foremost, Corey LaJoie had his first tryst with the Hendrick Motorsports car, replacing a suspended Chase Elliott. Of course, since LaJoie is a Spire Motorsports driver, the team needed a replacement for him as well. Enter Carson Hocevar, making his NASCAR Cup Series debut, and both situations were a trial by fire.

LaJoie was forced to endure a nightmarish race where he struggled all weekend. On the other end of the spectrum, Hocevar enjoyed himself during the race, despite being caught up in a wreck. Without a doubt, this would be a valuable experience for Hocevar. It could also give him a leg up if he wanted to return to the Cup Series on a more permanent basis.

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Carson Hocevar enjoyed some time off before he will be back into action

Quite recently, Hocevar enjoyed some downtime on the track and off it. While ‘having the time of my life’ he showed off some snooker skills, which were a bit questionable. After that, he competed in a midget race, which sadly didn’t go in his favor. Apparently, he flipped his midget car on the track during a practice session but thankfully escaped unhurt. In the first race, he had a tangle with a fellow driver right across the line that resulted in the latter flipping.

However, in the second race, it was relatively civil, though he did not find much success. The driver is going through a fairly busy week, with races at the Berlin Raceway and the Eldora Speedway. All of these kick-off before he heads to the Nashville Super-speedway for the Truck race. Meanwhile, Corey LaJoie will be more than eager to hand over the #9 Hendrick Motorsports keys back to Chase Elliott.

Corey LaJoie will be hoping to put this race behind him

As mentioned before, Corey LaJoie had a race to forget in his debut with a top NASCAR team. So far in his Spire Motorsports tenure, he has had six Top 10 finishes, with the latest one coming at Atlanta this year. Since then, he has mostly been lingering around the Top 20 for much of the 2023 Cup Series season. This weekend, he will be reunited with his #7 machine, a car that he is more used to driving.

Meanwhile, Chase Elliott returns to the Cup Series, but he will be on thin ice. Having missed many races due to injury, this one-race suspension has not made things any better for him. This is because time is running out for him to secure a Playoff berth, and positions can disappear quickly.

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