Carson Hocevar’s front-row San Diego shot turned into a live victory chance as the Anduril 250 moved into its closing phase under caution at Naval Base Coronado.
The Spire Motorsports driver was shown leading the Cup Series field around lap 61, ahead of Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson, Corey Heim and Tyler Reddick, after a race that had already stripped away several of the weekend’s biggest storylines. It gave Hocevar a fresh route back into the centre of the inaugural San Diego finish after starting second alongside Shane van Gisbergen.
ReadMotorsport had already covered how Hocevar’s front-row start gave Spire a real San Diego chance, but the late caution changed the shape of the opportunity. This was no longer simply about surviving the opening laps from the outside of the front row. It became about whether Spire could execute from the head of the queue while the race reset behind him.
Preece stage win set up tense final run
Ryan Preece had earlier collected Stage 2, with NASCAR’s running recap reporting that he passed Riley Herbst late in the segment before completing lap 40 with a 1.391-second margin.
That came after the lap-32 restart crash that took Van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch out of contention, a moment that had already turned the San Diego Cup debut upside down. The race then kept changing hands, with FOX Sports’ live leaderboard showing Larson leading after 57 laps before the next caution sequence moved Hocevar to the front.
Larson’s presence near the sharp end was no surprise after he had already set the early Cup benchmark in San Diego practice. Hocevar’s late position, though, gave the finish a different edge: a young Spire driver, a new street course, and a field still trying to work out how much grip and patience remained.
San Diego’s Cup debut has refused to settle into a clean script. If Hocevar can turn track position into a result, Spire will leave Coronado with far more than a strong qualifying headline.
