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Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland have won the 2.4 Hours of LeMullets for the second year in a row. The full-contact Crown Vic race at the Freedom Factory in Florida ended with Hocevar winning a last-lap fight with Ty Dillon.
The race on the 3/8-mile oval, which included a makeshift chicane on the backstretch, has been held every year since 2020. This year’s field included Cup drivers Hocevar, Dillon, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Preece.
A Wild Final Lap
Dillon, sharing a car with his father, Mike Dillon, was leading late when Hocevar pushed him out of the way as the white flag flew. Dillon returned the favor into Turn 1 but ran wide and nearly hit a tractor tire trying to slow for the chicane. Hocevar slid back into the lead, with slight contact between the two, and held on for the win.
Preece, in a backup car after crashing earlier, was challenging for the lead before he spun into the tires on the backstretch. Hamlin, sharing a car with Alex Presley, charged late to finish third.
Hocevar: ‘The Back Bumper Was Pretty Expensive’
Hocevar joked about his winning move, a nod to his brake-checking of Austin Cindric at Martinsville, which got him fined $100,000 by NASCAR and benched by Spire Motorsports for the Cup finale.
“Yeah, I’m glad it was the front bumper — the back bumper was pretty expensive last time I used that,” Hocevar said.
“So, that was a lot of fun. It was fun beating up with these guys. I ran into a lot of guys I have all season, but they’re laughing about it now. So, this is a lot of fun. So, I appreciate that man.”
McFarland called his co-driver a “cheat code,” saying all he had to do was “drive safely for 35 minutes.”
Hamlin: ‘I Hit Everything but the Lottery’
Hamlin’s No. 11 Crown Vic took a beating.
“I hit everything but the lottery, that’s for sure. The car — knocked the radiator out, blew the right rear coming to the checkered,” Hamlin said. “I really needed Carson to get just a little more aggressive with the 10 [Dillon]. I never usually ask for that, but that’s what I needed. But I had a front row seat to it, and it was fantastic. I thought he made an awesome move to get the 10 up, but then gap himself to where he couldn’t get it back. So that was textbook.”
Preece congratulated Hocevar after the race. The night also included a rollover for Bug Strmiska, who climbed on top of his upside-down car and raised his fists to the crowd.
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