“I had so much fun”: Carson Hocevar shares his review of NASCAR pulling off a Cup race at Bowman Gray

Carson Hocevar touched upon NASCAR's recent race with a review, as the Cup Series driver shared his thoughts on the Cook Out Clash that took place at the Bowman Gray Stadium. In his recent post on X, Hocevar summed up his reaction and experience of racing in the short track.

NASCAR returned to the Bowman Gray Stadium situated in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the first time in 54 years. They last hosted a race in 1971, and after 53 years, NASCAR decided to kick off their Cup Series season at the Stadium after moving the inaugural race from Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum last year.

As the race concluded last Sunday, drivers, experts, and fans all had different takes on the short-track race — so did Carson Hocevar. Replying to one of NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck's X posts, the former penned down his experience of racing at BGS.

"Hi jeff, i had so much fun that i got caught day dreaming about it that I forgot to give a review until getting my fifth reminder about completing a review to be accommodated on my return. also i appreciate the addition of a tire barrier and recommend that more often. thanks," wrote Carson Hocevar.

Carson Hocevar drove the #77 entry for Spire Motorsports at the Bowman Gray Stadium. He put his Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in 15th place on Saturday's qualifying. On Sunday, Carson Hocevar finished the race in 16th place, ahead of Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson and behind Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch.

Larson's teammate, Chase Elliott, claimed the victory ahead of Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin. Elliot had a dominant race where he led 171 out of 200 laps. Hamlin was the other driver who led the remaining 28 laps, while Tyler Reddick led only one lap.

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Chase Elliott praised Bowman Gray's race track amid Carson Hocevar's review

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet celebrates with the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium trophy - Source: Getty Images

Chase Elliott started off his 2025 NASCAR Cup Series journey with a victory at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray. As he kicked off his season in style, he praised Bowman Gray Stadium's track, which turned out to be better than he expected.

Speaking to the media after the race, Elliott said:

"I think even more than I thought it was going to be as well. I attribute that to just the age of the surface and in my opinion, it took a little bit of time for the tire wear to get to a position that you did have an option to move off the bottom, but it did happen."

"I think the straightaways being a little longer, the corners being a little more sweeping; not such a tight little apex that you had to work with at the Coliseum, gave you some of those options, and then obviously, whatever tires Goodyear brought it did have some fall off to it and it had some wear and it took 60 70 laps but after a bit of time you could hurt the tire and I think that was where you know you really saw the racing get good," the HMS star added.

As the event at the Madhouse is done and dusted for this season, NASCAR moves to Daytona Beach for the iconic 2025 Daytona 500, set to take place on February 16.