Carson Hocevar had a problem that no amount of driving could fix. His Chevrolet was sitting against the wall at Talladega Superspeedway, all four tires flat, with no way to get back to pit road. The race was red-flagged after Joey Logano’s car flipped during a terrifying 15-car crash. Hocevar’s afternoon looked finished. Then a tow truck driver arrived with a promise that changed everything.
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“The tow truck driver was a massive NBP of the situation,” Hocevar said in a video shared by Turn4report on X. The driver had a simple message for him: “Hey man, I’m going to keep you in the race.”
Hocevar agreed. What followed was a frantic trip back towards his crew, a chance to repair the damaged No. 77 Chevrolet and a sixth-place finish that seemed unlikely just minutes earlier. Now, Hocevar wants to find the man responsible, because the driver did something he clearly did not expect. He treated getting the car back into the race as his own mission.
The crash left Hocevar stranded, but the tow truck driver had other plans.
The incident happened with five laps remaining in the YellaWood 500 on October 25. Carson Hocevar had been pushing Logano through the high lane when their cars made contact. Logano lost control, and the collision set off a pileup that sent his No. 22 Ford onto its roof.
Riley Herbst also suffered heavy damage, while many others saw their afternoons end. NASCAR stopped the race under a red flag for safety crews to deal with the wreck. NASCAR’s incident report confirmed that 15 cars were involved.
Hocevar was among those caught in the wreck, but his situation was different from the drivers whose cars could no longer continue. He was still hoping to race again. The problem was that four flat tires had left him stranded on the backstretch, unable to make it back under his own power.
“Can’t go anywhere. I’m like in the wall,” he explained.
Usually, a tow truck driver approaching a stranded car would first check whether the driver was okay and ask what assistance was needed. Carson Hocevar expected that conversation. Instead, the man arrived with a plan already in mind.
“None of that was asked nothing,” Hocevar recalled. “All of a sudden the tow truck driver runs over. He goes, Hey man, I’m going to keep you in the race.”
The driver did not waste time. He climbed into the truck, slammed the door and started moving. Hocevar said they traveled at around 45 miles per hour, passing cars that were attempting to limp back towards pit road.
That detail says plenty about the urgency of the situation. NASCAR had halted the race, but the teams still had to prepare for a restart. Every minute spent getting a damaged car back to its crew was a minute lost from the recovery effort. Hocevar’s crew needed to inspect the Chevrolet and determine what could be repaired before the green flag returned.
The rescue did not end there. Hocevar’s crew needed a closer look at the damage, so they asked the driver to lift the car again after he had started lowering it. He picked it up, allowed the crew to inspect it, and then set it down.
It was something small, but Carson Hocevar remembered what happened next.
“The tow truck driver sets me back down and he’s just like this. He’s like, I did good,” he said.
Hocevar gave him the answer he deserved: “yes, you did.”
That exchange explains why the story has stayed with him. The driver had made a promise, acted on it immediately, and seemed genuinely pleased that he had helped. Hocevar was now thinking about how to repay him.
“I need to find this tow truck guy’s name,” he said, before suggesting a reward. “I don’t know if it’s legal or not, but I was like, dude, that dude needs a couple hundred bucks. Or something, or at least some gift cards.”
There is no confirmed identity or reported reward yet. Hocevar’s comments, however, make clear that he wants the man to receive some recognition for his effort.
The crew still had to make the opportunity count. NASCAR’s red-flag rules restrict work on cars during the stoppage, so the team had to follow the applicable procedures while assessing the damage and preparing for the restart. Hocevar’s Chevrolet returned to the track without losing a lap, giving him a chance to salvage the afternoon. He then climbed through the field during the closing run to finish sixth. The tow truck’s quick work helped make that recovery possible.
Kyle Larson ultimately won the race, beating William Byron by 0.041 seconds in overtime. Carson Hocevar finished sixth despite being caught in the late wreck.
Still, the rescue does not erase Hocevar’s part in the crash. He was pushing Logano when the contact occurred, and he has accepted responsibility for the mistake.