Spire Motorsports Southern 500 Race Report 2026

Carson Hocevar led Spire Motorsports with an 11th-place effort in Sunday's Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway to kick off the 2026 edition of The Chase. It was Hocevar's 19th top-20 finish of the season and helped him maintain his 12th-place point standing. Michael McDowell finished 17th to place two Spire Motorsports entries inside the top 20, while Daniel Suárez salvaged a 21st-place finish to leave Darlington 13th in the point standings. McDowell's result boosted him to 19th in the standings with nine races remaining.

Hocevar started 34th in the No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after inclement weather washed out Saturday’s qualifying session. Despite the lack of track position in Stage 1, the Portage, Mich., native raced to the 27th position in just five laps and 20th by the Lap-35 competition caution. The No. 77 team continued to move forward throughout the night, rounding out Stage 1 and 2 in the 18th and 15th positions and taking the checkered flag in 11th. McDowell began the 367-lap race in the fifth position and showed a lot of speed early on before a slow stop in Stage 1 hindered the progress of the No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. As the track conditions changed with the setting sun, the No. 71 team continued to fight and regained position on the lead lap midway through the Final Stage. Despite reporting that something felt off with the Delaware Life Chevy in the closing laps, McDowell held on for his 16th top-20 finish of the year. Suárez started second in the No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and took over the top spot for the opening two laps. The Monterrey, Mexico native struggled with a lack of grip as tires began to wear and the track conditions changed, ultimately losing a lap to the leaders during Stage 2. On Lap 282, Suárez reported low RPMs and fluctuating fuel pressure. The Freeway Insurance driver fought ack from two laps down to rejoin the lead lap with less than 50 laps remaining in the race, and continued to fight toward a 21st-place effort.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads west to World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Sunday, Sept. 13. The Enjoy Illinois 300 will be broadcast live on USA beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 28th of 36 points-paying races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and the second race of The Chase, will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

“It was a long night. Listen, something about the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team this year is that we’ve done an amazing job executing, and if we have a 10th-place car, we finish better, and that’s been our signature for the entire year. Today, we didn’t have the speed at the start of the race. We went from leading the race to back in 20th. And then, we just didn’t execute the little things. Our last pit stop was bad. The adjustments, I feel like never really improved our car a whole lot. We have to go back and regroup. We also had a couple issues with the fuel pump and an issue with the engine, a couple little things. It wasn’t the way we wanted to start The Chase, but overall, I know I have a great team. At Spire Motorsports, we’re going to go back to work and come back stronger next weekend.”

“It was a long night here in Darlington, but we showed a lot of speed. I felt like we were right on the fringe of taking home a top-10 finish today, but during that last restart it felt like something broke. Regardless, proud of our No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet. This was a lot of progress from where we were in the spring for our guys. We have run well at Gateway in the past, so I am looking forward to getting back there with Spire Motorsports and continuing to build this momentum over the last nine weeks.”

“Overall, I was pretty happy with our race, considering we started 34th with the metric. Our No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet handled pretty well throughout the evening. Obviously, we want more, but this is our first run at this whole Chase thing and we’re just gaining experience. We were up there with a lot of other Chase drivers, which is ultimately what we want to do.”

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 victory came May 24, 2026, when Daniel Suárez won the NASCAR Cup Series’ 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 also fields the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.

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