Another week, another NASCAR news cycle involving the name Carson Hocevar for something other than his Cup Series race results.
Hocevar was suspended not by NASCAR but by his race team, Spire Motorsports, for his brake-checking incident(s) with Team Penske's Austin Cindric during this past Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway.
As a result, his 2026 season is over, and he will not compete in Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Justin Haley is set to drive the No. 77 Chevrolet instead.
Tristan McKee will also miss Homestead season finale for Spire
Another Spire Motorsports driver will also miss this weekend's season finale, that being the final race of the 2026 Craftsman Truck Series season, but that is due to his age.
Tristan McKee, who signed with the team as a development driver back in January 2025 as a 14-year-old, turned 16 years old back in early August, and he has effectively competed full-time in the No. 77 truck ever since. We say "effectively" since he has run all races he's been eligible to run, meaning all races on ovals that measure 1.25 miles or less in length.
He placed eighth at Richmond Raceway, sixth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and fifth at Bristol Motor Speedway to kick off his career in impressive fashion, before being forced to miss the two races at 1.5-mile ovals Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After a 14th place finish at Phoenix Raceway, he had to miss the superspeedway race at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, but he returned by matching his career-high result with another fifth place effort at Martinsville Speedway after becoming the youngest polesitter in Truck Series history.
That race would ultimately end his 2026 Truck Series season, as Homestead-Miami is a 1.5-mile oval. As a result, it's Nick Sanchez who is set to drive the No. 77 Chevrolet this weekend.
Sanchez was initially supposed to return to Big Machine Racing for a second full season in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series ended up losing his ride to Patrick Staropoli over the offseason. He then signed with AM Racing to compete full-time, but they shut down after the season's first seven races. He has since run 10 races with Peterson Racing, and he's set to make it 11 this weekend.
As for his Truck Series involvement, his start this weekend is set to mark his fourth of the year and third with Spire Motorsports. He drove the No. 77 truck to a fifth place finish at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and a 28th place finish at Kansas Speedway. He finished 20th at Bristol for Henderson Motorsports.
As for McKee, he has already signed a deal to compete part-time in the Truck Series for Spire Motorsports next year, albeit in the No. 7 Chevrolet, rather than the No. 77 Chevrolet, since Kasey Kahne is set to unretire and drive the No. 77 truck full-time. McKee will still not be eligible to run the full schedule, since he's not in line to turn 18 years old until August 2028.
Live coverage of the Baptist Health 200 is set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET this Friday, November 6. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season's final race!
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