Celebratory Triple Dippers? Sign me up.
Carson Hocevar finally broke through for his first NASCAR Cup Series win this past weekend in the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in his 91st Cup Series start.
After the race, the 23-year old pulled off one of the most electric celebrations I’ve ever seen when he drove around the track hanging out the window of his #77 Chili’s car for Spire Motorsports while hanging out the window and saluting fans.
But as you can imagine, the party didn’t end with his burnout.
After the race, Spire Motorsports shared photos of Hocevar and his crew chief, Luke Lambert, carrying the ‘Dega trophy into – where else – his local Chili’s in Mooresville, North Carolina.
And Hocevar joined Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his Dale Jr. Download podcast this week, where he recounted the victory party:
“I was so pumped about that, mainly because I was so hungry.”
Now, the Chili’s in Mooresville closes at 11 PM, and Carson says that the stop to his sponsor’s restaurant wasn’t planned beforehand. But Carson says that Chili’s had plenty of corporate representatives in attendance for the race, so they started making calls before the celebration at the track was even complete:
“The corporate people were there at the race. It was a Chili’s race, so they had a ton of people. So they before we were done with Victory Lane, they had already made the calls to the Mooresville location. They know us, everything, they always cater the shop, but they both had the same idea, basically.”
As you can imagine, they still rolled out the red carpet for him
“They opened it, they specifically just went there, opened it, they had a platter of food set up. We did a bunch of speeches at the bar and everything it was fun.
They got a cake and I was like, ‘How the hell did you make a cake?’ They’re like, ‘No, we went and bought it and everything.’ But, you know, they had everything.”
Well eventually they had to close the Chili’s once again, so the party moved to the home of Carson’s crew chief, Luke Lambert. But the driver admits that by that point the adrenaline was starting to wear off:
“I sat there on the couch, and I sat there and finally the adrenaline wore off me, and I felt like the lamest guy in the world but I was like, I don’t care. My legs were so worn out and I was so bruised from the whole shindig I pulled off after the race that I was like, ‘You guys have fun. I am sitting right here on this couch, and I will just enjoy the company’. And that’s just what I did. I just laid down and we talked forever.”
Carson says he eventually went home around 6:00 AM – but he had to steal his crew chief’s truck, because his was still parked at Talladega:
Sounds like he had a heck of a celebration.
I’ve gotta say, I absolutely love the partnership between Hocevar and Chili’s. They seem to be a perfect fit for each other, and it’s exactly what NASCAR needs more of: Drivers and sponsors promoting each other so that they both end up benefitting.
And you KNOW Chili’s is happy with their decision to hop on the Hurricane Hocevar train. They’re have one of the best up and coming drivers in NASCAR, a future superstar in the sport, promoting their brand. Sounds like they’re definitely getting their money’s worth – even if it means keeping the Mooresville location open for a few extra hours after a win.
