After Josh Williams was cut by Kaulig Racing following the recent NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the team needed to find replacements to close out the 2025 season behind the wheel of the No. 11 Chevrolet.
The first of those replacements was Carson Hocevar, who competes for Spire Motorsports full-time in the Cup Series but had never previously competed for Matt Kaulig's team at any level.
In fact, Hocevar skipped the Xfinity Series after running three full seasons in the Truck Series before landing his Spire Motorsports Cup ride last year. Entering this past weekend's race at Iowa Speedway, Hocevar had competed in just six Xfinity Series races, including just one since the end of 2023.
Hocevar placed sixth at the four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) Newton, Iowa oval, but at least as of right now, that was his one and only start behind the No. 11 car scheduled for 2025.
Carson Hocevar replacement confirmed for Watkins Glen
Now one of his Cup Series teammates, Michael McDowell, is set to take over this weekend at Watkins Glen International.
Given McDowell's road racing background, plus the fact that the more recent of his two career Cup wins came at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course two years ago, he is expected to be a contender at the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) Watkins Glen, New York road course this weekend.
Having said that, it marks a return for the 2021 Daytona 500 which is nine years in the making. He has not competed at NASCAR's second-highest level since all the way back in 2016, when he drove for Richard Childress Racing and won at Road America.
That win, the first of his NASCAR national series career, came in his 94th Xfinity Series start. He had five other top three finishes to his name before then, and three of them came on road courses.
He has not competed in an Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen since 2009, when he placed 27th for Whitney Motorsports. His best career finish in 16 Cup starts at Watkins Glen is sixth, which he recorded in 2022. He finished in seventh there last year.
The Mission 200 at The Glen is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Watkins Glen International beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 9. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!