- In 11 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-10 finish. Carson Hocevar, driver of the team’s No. 77 Chevrolet, earned a team-best ninth-place result in the series’ 2024 visit to Homestead. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the Cup Series for Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.
- The Straight Talk Wireless 400 will be televised live on FS1 Sunday, March 23, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The sixth of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. FOX’s NASCAR Raceday will take the green flag at 2 p.m. EDT.
Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1
- Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Straight Talk 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- Haley has recorded four previous Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He recorded a series/venue best 23rd-place finish in October 2023 and completed 1,065 of 1,068 (99.7 percent) of the laps contested over those four starts. Last fall, Haley started 10th and finished 34th aboard Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chili’s Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet.
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- Last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Haley started 33rd and despite battling radio-related communication issues early in the race, rallied to finish 14th.
- Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 will mark Haley’s 150th career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, the 25-year-old racer has notched one win, five top fives, 16 top 10s and led 103 laps. He made his first start in NASCAR’s premier division for Spire Motorsports at Talladega Superspeedway on his 20th birthday.
- In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Haley has logged four previous starts at Homestead- Miami Speedway and earned back-to-back sixth-place finishes in 2020-2021.
- On the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series side of the sport, the Winamac, Ind., native has two Homestead starts (2017-2018) where he finished ninth and eighth, respectively.
- The veteran racer has collected four NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flags and three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins, making him one of just 41 drivers in history to have earned victories across all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series.
- In total, Haley has made 47 Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, with the bulk of races coming during the 2021 season behind the wheel of the team’s No. 77 machine.
Justin Haley Quote
Your results haven’t displayed the speed your team has had the first five weeks. How do you look to turn that around at Homestead?
“We had a good day in Las Vegas and hopefully we can turn that into a solid run this weekend in Homestead. We’re bringing fast cars so we’ll work on trying to build some momentum and putting together some consistent finishes.”
Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Rodney Childers
- Crew chief Rodney Childers has called 16 races at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Childers-prepared cars have earned one pole, one win, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes while leading 221 laps at the south Florida oval.
- The Mooresville, N.C., native’s lone win at Homestead came during the 2014 season finale where Kevin Harvick led 54 laps en route to the fifth and final victory of the potent duo’s championship-winning campaign.
- The veteran crew chief has participated in 681 NASCAR Cup Series races where he’s earned 34 poles, 40 wins, 178 top-five and 298 top-10 finishes. He also earned 2014 championship honors with Harvick.
- Childers’ 40 wins at NASCAR’s premier level ties him for second-most amongst all active crew chiefs in the Cup Series garage.
Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1
- Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- The 40-year-old owns 15 Cup Series starts at Homestead, where he’s collected two top 10s highlighted by a venue-best sixth-place finish in 2021.
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- The Arizona native secured the first Busch Light Pole Award in Spire Motorsports’ short team history at Las Vegas and led the field to the green flag. His 28.833 second lap marks the fastest lap in the Gen 7 era (2022-present) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the No. 71 team fought a potential issue with the diffuser and underbody for the bulk of Stages 1 and 2. The team discovered the air pressure-sensitive flap on the rear diffuser had been triggered, causing a blockage to the diffuser’s central channel and hindering the car’s rear downforce. After strategy calls put the No. 71 Group1001 Chevrolet inside the top five, a yellow flag with 20 laps remaining bunched the field one final time. When the late-race restart turned physical, McDowell was shuffled outside the top 10 but hung on to finish 16th.
- The father of five made his 300th consecutive start last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a streak that dates back to October 2016.
- The Cup Series veteran has claimed two Xfinity Fastest Lap awards, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500 and earlier this month at Phoenix Raceway. Through five weeks, McDowell stands as the only driver across the three national series to have secured multiple bonus points through the newly-unveiled program.
- McDowell owns a 15.6 average finish through five races, a two position improvement compared to the start of 2024.
Michael McDowell Quotes
What are your thoughts heading into Homestead?
“Homestead it’s still one of those racetracks you go to where tires fall off, you slip and slide around and you work really hard as a driver all race all day long. You have a lot of options. You can run the bottom, run the top or run the top to the bottom. So, you can find where your car works best, you can find clean air, and it’s just one of those tracks that you just drive all day long and it’s a lot of fun.”
Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson
- Crew chief Travis Peterson joined Spire Motorsports following the 2024 season after spending 2023-2024 alongside McDowell at Front Row Motorsports.
- The West Bend, Wis., native called fellow Wisconsin driver, NASCAR Hall of Famer, and 2004 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth to a sixth-place finish in the 2018 season finale at Homestead. The event marked Peterson’s crew chief debut.
Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1
- Carson Hocevar is back behind the wheel of the No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet ZL1 for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He’ll make his second Cup Series start at Homestead, where he finished ninth in his Cup Series debut at the 1.5-mile track last October.
- The performance was a callback to Hocevar’s fourth and final NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win of the 2023 season. The Portage, Mich., native started second and led 11 laps to earn clinch his spot in the Championship 4 for the final race at Phoenix Raceway. In addition to his 2023 win, Hocevar has one other Truck Series start at Homestead resulting in a 12th-place effort.
- In 11 Cup Series starts on 1.5-mile non-drafting tracks, Hocevar has earned two top-10 finishes – a 10th-place effort at Texas Motor Speedway and a ninth-place result at Homestead-Miami Speedway, both during the 2024 season.
- Last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Hocevar showed speed early in the event. He finished inside the top 10 in the first two stages to collect bonus points and looked to be on track for a top-10 finish before damage incurred on pit road late in the race slowed his progress. After pitting under green-flag conditions to repair damage, the No. 77 team was relegated to a 30th-place finish, two laps down.
- Hocevar will participate in FOX Sports’ annual Drivers Only broadcast for Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. The 2024 Rookie of the Year will serve as pit reporter during coverage of the Baptist Health 200 from Homestead.
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Carson Hocevar Quotes
The No. 77 has had a lot of speed to start the year. What kind of confidence does that give you this early in the season?
“It’s been great. We’ve been faster, we just haven’t finished as good as we should. Last year, I thought we were really good at running decent and finishing really well. Now, we’re running really well and we just have something happen that takes away that finish to match. Having that speed and knowing that we’re good from practice to qualifying to the race definitely builds a lot of confidence for the team. We can work on the things that have kept us from getting those finishes, so I would much rather be super fast and have issues that take us out and know we can work on it, then have to find speed and hope that we can finish a race.”
You’re participating in the Drivers Only broadcast on Friday night. What made you want to take part in the event this year?
“I love Homestead, it’s one of my favorite tracks and I’ve been really excited to get there and see what we can do in the Cup car. When FOX asked about the broadcast, I couldn’t say no. I’ve worked with them for some races in the booth and really enjoyed getting to do so and I just think it’s going to be a lot of fun to be on pit road and part of the action for this race. I think we’ll see a lot of excitement with the truck race being shorter and on a track as worn out as Homestead.”
Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert
- Sunday’s race will mark Luke Lambert’s 12th Cup Series race atop the box at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Mount Airy, N.C., native has led drivers to top-10 finishes in four races and earned a runner-up finish with Ryan Newman in the 2014 season finale.
- The Mt. Airy, N.C. native led Noah Gragson to victory at Homestead in the penultimate race of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The pair led 127 of 200 laps to win their eighth race of the season.
- Last Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the 48th race Lambert has called for Hocevar with 40 of those coming at Spire Motorsports. Together the pair have earned two top-fives and seven top-10 finishes.
About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on Feb. 22, 2025, when Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In 2025, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team will also field the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the No. 77 Chevrolet in the ARCA Menards Series in select events.