Overview
- Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland won the 2.4 Hours of LeMullets on Friday night at Cleetus’s Freedom Factory in Bradenton, Florida, giving the pair back‑to‑back wins in the Crown Victoria endurance event.
- The race ended in a dramatic last‑lap confrontation when Hocevar bumped Ty Dillon as the white flag flew, Dillon countered into Turn 1, ran wide at the backstretch chicane, and Hocevar reclaimed the lead to take the win.
- Hocevar remains subject to NASCAR’s disciplinary actions from Nov. 1 — a $100,000 fine, a 25‑point driver penalty, and a team suspension that kept him out of the Homestead finale — but those formal penalties did not stop him from racing in LeMullets.
- Denny Hamlin finished third after a battered night and later posted video of his damaged Crown Victoria, then replied to Hocevar on social media with a friendly message that signaled a public cooling of season‑long tensions between the drivers.
- LeMullets is a non‑NASCAR, full‑contact spectacle run with nitrous‑equipped Ford Crown Victorias on a 3/8‑mile oval with a backstretch chicane and two‑driver teams, and its popularity with Cup drivers raises questions about how NASCAR and teams will balance enforcement of on‑track rules with fan appetite for rough, entertaining racing.