When the green flag waved for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, two drives made their 100th career starts. Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports and Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 for Front Row Motorsports both earned this milestone. Both drivers are also in the midst of the best seasons of their careers. Hocevar has won his first race and sits 9th in the standings, 117 points above the Chase cutline while Smith sits 23rd in points, 62 points below the Chase cutline.
During their 100th start, the two drivers tangled. On Lap 32, the both drivers were battling near 17th place when Smith drove Hocevar high, causing both cars to slide sideways, making contact with the wall. They ultimately finished the race a lap down: Hocevar in 22nd place and Smith in 30th place. This was one of two major incidents at Chicagoland.
Driver History
While nothing was found during the race itself to suggest history, these drivers have shared plenty of on-track moments prior. They were teammates at Spire Motorsports during their rookie seasons in 2024. Smith, who was driving for Spire as a Trackhouse driver, had a disastrous first half of his rookie season leading to both teams parting ways with the California native. Since this, Smith improved in the second half and has had several impressive runs for Front Row. Hocevar, meanwhile, has become the face of Spire. He is the one who earned their first win since the partnership with TWG and has beaten every teammate except for 2025 Michael McDowell in the standings.
Their only on-track incident happened at Iowa Speedway in 2025, when Hocevar lost control of his car and ended his former teammate’s day with a hard hit into the SAFER barrier.
“I think that the media feeds into him trying to play this like, ‘Intimidator’ role, but then he’ll act like he’s your buddy, and then just be an idiot on social media,” Smith said at the time. “I was teammates with him, and everyone at that race shop, everyone in this garage, realizes he’s an idiot.”
Interestingly, both drivers made their Cup Series debut as fill-ins at Worldwide Technology Raceway. Smith filled in for Chris Buescher in 2022 due to sickness, while Hocevar filled in for Corey Lajoie in 2023 who was filling in for a suspended Chase Elliott.
Reflecting on Start 100 and Looking Forward
In 100 starts, Hocevar has earned one win, seven top-5s, 22 top-10s, and two poles. Smith, meanwhile, has earned five top-5s, 15 top-10s and one pole.
“Yeah, you just kind of blink and you’re at a hundred,” Hocevar said. “Blink twice, and you’re at 200. “I just try to enjoy as many as possible. I’m just glad I have a win in the win column before a hundred, right?”
Smith went into his 100th start hoping to win his first cup race, as at or around Start 100 has been when many recent prospects have done so.
“I feel like everyone understands in the industry how hard these races are to win — and then on top of that, we’re a smaller team, too, so we’re doing a lot with a little and trying to make big strides each year,” Smith said. So proud of that and just proud of how we’re running, but yeah, would love to put an exclamation mark on this on the 100th start.”
If Smith can join Hocevar in racing up front consistently, as the 27-year old has shown he can do, Chicagoland Speedway could be the start of a rivalry fans get to watch for decades to come.
