Spire Motorsports eero 400 Race Report 2026

Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar made his 100th NASCAR Cup Series start as NASCAR returned to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., for the first time since 2019. Daniel Suárez was the highest finisher in Sunday's eero 400 with a 14th-place showing, while Hocevar and Michael McDowell finished 22nd and 29th, respectively. With seven races remaining in the regular season, Hocevar falls one spot to ninth in points. Suárez sits 11th while McDowell maintains his position in 21st.

Suárez, driver of the No. 7 Modo Casino Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, earned his 12th top-15 and 16th top-20 finish of the 2026 season. After battling balance issues through the opening two stages, the No. 7 team made adjustments that improved the Chevrolet for the Final Stage. Suárez climbed as high as 11th in the final 102-lap stint, but ultimately finished 14th. Hocevar qualified 11th but battled a tight No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 throughout the evening. On Lap 33, contact initiated by a competitor sent the Portage, Mich., native spinning. Despite the lack of track position and tricky handle, the team fought throughout the night for a 22nd-place finish. McDowell started at the tail of the field in the No. 71 Veterans 1001 / Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 following penalties from technical inspection earlier in the weekend. After completing a pass-through penalty under green at the start of the race, McDowell ran as high as 20th early in Stage 2. The Glendale, Ariz., native struggled with comfortable handling throughout the event, ultimately crossing the finish line in the 29th position.

Next up, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 12. The Quaker State 400 will be broadcast live on TNT beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 20th of 36 points-paying races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

“We fought the balance on our No. 7 Modo Casino Chevrolet for most of the day. It was pretty inconsistent and made it hard to find a good rhythm, but the team kept making adjustments. By the final stage, the balance was getting better, and we were able to make the most of what we had. I’m looking forward to getting to Atlanta next week and continuing to build on what we’ve been showing.”

“Not our night here in Joliet. It was fun to get back here to Chicagoland and represent the veterans at Group 1001, but we missed it on setup. Hopefully we can get back on track in Atlanta.”

“It was fun to be back at Chicagoland. We were just really tight the whole weekend, and weren’t able to get it freed up. We’ll flip it around next week at Atlanta. I always have a lot of fun racing there.”

About Spire Motorsports …

Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, 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 July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado its first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 24, 2026, when Daniel Suárez took the checkered flag in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

In 2026, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization will also field the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.

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