BIRCH RUN, Mich. — Former JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance Rookie of the Year Carson Hocevar came back home to Michigan and claimed the win in Saturday night’s Firecracker 100 in front of a packed house at Birch Run Speedway.
“It’s really great to come back home to Michigan and pick up the win tonight,” remarked Hocevar. “I love this track, it’s a great place to race and they have done some great improvements to the facility since I was here last. I have to thank Zach for giving me a great car, all my crew for their hard work and my parents for their continued support. We have several of our great sponsors here today, so it’s always good to get a win for those guys, I really appreciate their support of my racing.”
What made the win a little sweeter for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor who now resides in North Carolina, was getting the win despite still nursing a hurt ankle after a hard crash at Gateway on June 4.
Hocevar was still on crutches and will be for at least three more weeks. Hocevar showed no signs of the injury bothering him as he made a move past Chase Burda to grab the lead on lap eight to go on and lead the last 92 laps to get the win by two and half seconds.
Hocevar picked up a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and the Sweet Manufacturing Sweet Move of the Race Award for his pass of Burda to get the lead and getting the win despite his injury.
Fifteen-year-old Katie Hettinger did not win the race, but you couldn’t tell that by the smiles on her face and the reaction of her crew after the 100-lap event while standing on the frontstretch after finishing second to Hocevar.
Hettinger got a lot of applause during driver intros and after the race. Hettinger, the 2020 Victory Custom Trailers CRA Junior Late Model Champion, now competes mostly in the North Carolina area in Late Model Stocks and Pro Late Models.
The second-place finish was her best with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour to date. Hettinger started fourth and fell back to seventh at one point, but worked her way back to the front, racing several hard side by side laps with Chase Burda before finally getting the position.
Kyle Crump came into this weekend’s event with the most to gain after winning the first Triple Crown Event on May 15th. After earning the Nove Motorsports Fast Qualifier Award, Crump elected to start at the tail, going after the $7,000 VanDoorn Racing Development Winners Bonus if he could win the second Triple Crown Event.
Crump made up several positions early. The event’s only caution on lap 39 helped get Crump into the top five. Crump would work his way to third, but that’s the best he would get as the race went all the way to checkers the rest of the way with Hocevar and Hettinger too far away to catch.
Burda would finish in fourth place, Kevin Cremonesi got his second straight top-five series finish with a fifth-place finish.
Birch Run’s own Dan Leeck would drive back through the field after the lap 39 caution after making a pit stop for adjustments to get a sixth-place finish.