Raise your hand if you thought that Spire Motorsports would be the second-best Chevrolet organization in the NASCAR Cup Series early in the 2026 season.
It’s a point worth closer examination. Statistically, the Spire Motorsports drivers rank behind alliance partner Hendrick Motorsports in the championship standings. They have been relevant seemingly every Sunday afternoon, and are looking, at this time, to be in a position to put one or two — if not all three — drivers in the Chase.
“You are always relative to … your manufacturer,” competition director Matt McCall told ESPN. “Overall, we’re still trying to focus and win races. Yes, we see [that we’re the second Chevrolet team], but we also know how quickly it changes week to week, too. For the most part, we compare ourselves to the field.”
Spire Motorsports was founded by Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr and made its Cup Series debut in 2019 after purchasing the charter from Furniture Row, which had been shuttered. Dickerson and Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports, which also has stakes in Formula 1’s Cadillac and IndyCar’s Andretti Global, are the co-owners who are striving to turn the organization — once criticized for being seen as not being a serious operation due to how it entered the sport, with a background in business management and entertainment, and its lack of resources — into a contender.
Carson Hocevar, the 23-year-old whose go-fast-and-take-no-prisoners attitude has made him the wild child of the series, is leading the way. He sits 12th in the standings but has become a consistent presence in the top 10 and a regular top-5 challenger. It’s no longer a surprise to see him running with the leaders.
“There was a lot last year with the 77 car, especially, was always a contender or up front, and it’s been good this year to pick up where we left off,” Hocevar told ESPN.
The ability to run up front, however, has come with an adjustment. Hocevar is finding it is not as much of a dogfight as the mid-pack, where there is less give-and-take between drivers battling for every inch and position as if it’s the last lap.
Hocevar and Spire teammate Michael McDowell ran 1-2 with two laps to go in the season-opening Daytona 500. It was Hocevar leading at the white flag before he was spun going into Turn 1. A week later, he was battling Tyler Reddick for the lead going into the last lap at EchoPark Speedway.
“Every time we’ve been up front, it’s almost easier,” Hocevar said. “Everybody is kind of relaxed more up there in the top-five-ish because their stuff is good and they’re more willing to give a little extra space, and you’re spread out from the whole field. It’s its one little race up there, and that was the biggest thing I noticed last year when we were going on our best races, that that was a lot easier and calmer; it felt natural up there.”
Daniel Suárez is in his first season with Spire Motorsports. It is the fifth team he’s driven for since entering the series ten years ago, and the latest opportunity to prove he’s worthy of a seat. In this case, though, Suárez wanted to join Spire because he was intrigued by their growth, and felt they were on an upward trajectory and would be a powerhouse within the next few years.
Today, he will say that working with a new group has renewed his spirit. What is undeniable is that Suárez is performing far better than many expected, given his 2025 season at Trackhouse Racing and what the No. 7 team for Spire did last year with its former driver, sitting 16th in points.
“I feel like we are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing,” Suárez told ESPN. “I don’t think we’re doing less or more. I think slowly we’re starting to understand that it’s not a fluke, that it’s real, and we have to push ourselves for more. … We have been competitive.”
For all the positives through nine races, there is still work to be done. McDowell, the series veteran, is 19th in the series standings. And across all three teams, the goal is to move from contenders to those with race-winning speed.
Realistically, everyone knows they aren’t there yet.
It’s telling seeing all three teams so close to each other, not only in the standings, but all three drivers have earned multiple top-10 finishes. The teams are working in the same direction, and even with three drivers with three different personalities, they have all brought something to the table.
“I think the biggest thing for the whole race team is there hasn’t been the distraction of why the 7 car is so slow or why this car is slow,” Hocevar said. “It could definitely be a distraction for the whole race team if one car is running up front and working, and the other is at the complete bottom almost. I’ve just seen a different dynamic, especially on the 7 car team. They’ve embraced Daniel, and they’ve run very well out of the gate.
“And for me, you just don’t have any outside noise when I walk out of the 77 office, and there’s panic. Everybody seems a little bit more rowing the boat and wanting to go in directions that we can all go in with the direction of our cars, rather than them scratching their heads.”
Suárez joining the fold had a bit to do with how things are going across the shop. Back in the winter, when he and the 7 team were coming together, Suárez told Spire that he didn’t want Ryan Sparks, who last year served as both the car’s crew chief and the team’s competition director, to have dual roles.
So the first order of business was deciding who would lead Suárez’s team. Sparks wanted to be on the team, and that meant making some moves. That is when McCall moved into the competition director role after being hired as the director of vehicle performance.
“The first few races we had pretty decent speed among all the cars, and I think that’s continued for most weeks,” McCall said. “Martinsville, probably all three cars where we finished is about all we had, so not a very good showing there. But we’ve been able to make gains each weekend, trying to continue to learn.
“I think overall, it’s been OK. I think we have plenty of runway to keep improving, but the group of people we have around here is fun to work with. We’re in an OK spot. We know we have to make some improvements to take the next step to bring home trophies, and that’s what we’re working toward. But the start has been, I’d say, close to solid but not solid.”
Winning is the next step. Spire Motorsports won in its first season in the summer Daytona date when taking advantage of a rain-shortened race to inherit the lead, but the next victory will come on merit and be even more impressive given how far the organization has come.
McCall describes the team Dickerson and Towriss have built as a place with good morale and culture, and a great place to work. Suárez wants to show that Spire Motorsports is a destination.
“I would say we’d have to win (this year) as well,” McCall said. “I think that’s been pretty straightforward, direct orders from everybody for us to know that’s part of the process, and I don’t think there’s anyone here that doesn’t have that mindset.”
Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske and Joe Gibbs have long had a stranglehold on the Cup Series, but they’re facing new competition. Maybe not for the championship, that’s still far out for Spire Motorsports, but when it comes to any given Sunday, there are new players in town who are getting ever closer to coming out on top.
“Those teams are super tough and difficult to race against, obviously,” Hocevar said. “But we’re running with them a lot already, and I still think we’re just getting going.”
