Tricon driver acknowledges his ‘misjudged’ aggressiveness over Carson Hocevar in Texas

Tricon Garage driver Gio Ruggiero triggered a major wreck at the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway and acknowledged misjudging aggressiveness over Carson Hocevar. NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass shared the clip of Ruggiero expressing his thoughts on his crash.

The incident happened on lap 31 when Ruggiero was behind the Spire Motorsports driver and tried to overtake him. But he misjudged, and his left tire hit the grass, ripping off his fender and slamming the #17 Toyota driver into Kaden Honeycutt's truck. The duo hit the outside wall and involved multiple drivers in the crash, bringing out the yellow flag.

Recalling making the aggressive pass on Carson Hocevar, Gio Ruggiero told NASCAR:

"You know, I don't, I don't think it was about not having practice. just kind of misjudged my run there, on my part, you know, being off to the right of the host of our there, and tried to set myself up to have a run, or get underneath them, going into one and make a pass, and just too aggressive, turning down there and just clipped it, just enough to where, obviously."

"After that I lost control and had no brakes to slow it down after that, so really unfortunate for all my guys; they worked super hard on my trucks to make them fast for me, so just got to got to be better and then come back stronger for the next one," he added.

Corey Heim won the 167-lap/250.5-mile race. Meanwhile, Carson Hocevar finished in P17, followed by Gio Ruggiero in P31, as Kaden Honeycutt came in last in P32.

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Truck Series champion Carson Hocevar opened up about his career with Spire Motorsports in the Cup Series

During the Martinsville Speedway Goodyear 400, Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar was featured in a media day, where he touched upon his team's unsatisfactory performance in the 2025 season. Hocevar claimed he secured only one top-five finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway for his team this season.

The #77 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver's teammate, Michael McDowell, secured only pole position this season at Las Vegas Speedway, where he finished 16th. Meanwhile, #7 Chevy driver Justin Haley secured one top-10 finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March 2025, where he landed a P10 finish.

Reflecting upon the same, Carson Hocevar said (via SpeedwayDigest.com):

“We've improved a lot as a team since that last race at Darlington, where we qualified well, and I think we have a good chance to show speed in practice, qualify decent and have another good points day."

Carson Hocevar currently ranks 20th in the Cup Series drivers' standings with 195 points. He secured one top-five finish and three DNFs in 10 starts this season. Meanwhile, his teammates, Michael McDowell and Justin Haley, rank 19th and 27th, respectively.