It was a dominant and record setting third victory in the nine-year history of the Money in the Bank 150 at Berlin Raceway for Carson Hocevar on Tuesday night.
This is where Carson Hocevar learned to race full bodied Stock Cars in the first place and he has never forgotten it. This particularly trip back home also paid him a record $15,000 up from the $10,000 in recent years with the race now in its fourth year under UARA sanctioning.
Hocevar started seventh following a 10-car inversion but methodically drove through the field. He made the winning pass on Brian Campbell on Lap 43 and never looked back. His third win in the event breaks a shared tie with Campbell and Bubba Pollard.
“It means a lot,” said Hocevar, who drove the TK Racing No. 71 made famous by Johnny and Butch VandDoorn, who oversaw this effort. “It means a lot just coming here. I remember being on the other side. That Tyler Lupton kid’s probably going to be really good. I remember being on that side. Erik, you know, being at the NASCAR ranks and winning these races.
“It’s super cool to be the first three-time winner. Hopefully, everybody enjoyed the show.”
It was a familiar race up front between Hocevar and Campbell as they competed together here both in weekly competition and in the CRA Super Series for much of the past decade. Hocevar thought the pace was too fast and both drivers were trying to trick the other into burning their right rear.
“It was fun to race with Brian,” Hocevar said. “I remember racing with him, you know, so many times for a local event. I didn’t know if he was burning his stuff up, so I was trying to wave at him, like, come on, let’s see what you’ve got.
“It’s super fun to be that confident in the car. I know if roles were reversed, if I saw somebody waving, I would want them to go. I felt like I was pushing myself too hard. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t burning his stuff up.”
Campbell ultimately faded to third behind Andrew Scheid in the closing laps.
“The car drove really good in practice,” Campbell said. “After the first red, right before we got tires, I figured it would be us and the 71 sailing off. The car was good. We obviously made a little bit of an adjustment, so we slipped back to third. All in all, a good finish. I’m really proud of these guys and we represented Berlin Raceway really well.”
Scheid was satisfied with a runner-up after his win in the last weekly show at Berlin last month.
“At a big show like this, you’re not going to come out and win these right away,” said Scheid. “It’s gonna take time. You’re gonna have to finish second, you’re gonna have to finish third, you’re gonna have to finish sixth.
“To have this improvement from last year’s Money in the Bank with a 16th place finish. We got it in a good window last week. Nick and Brad made perfect adjustments all day long, gave us a great car for qualifying, gave us a great car in the race, and we were able to put up a P2. For now, we’ll be happy with this, but we’re going to be right there soon. We’re going to keep fighting, we will not stop until we’re in victory lane for one of these big shows.”
Erik Jones made his annual trek back home to Michigan and finished fourth in a brand new self-owned Port City car.
“You know, it’s a new car for us and we just kind of struggled with the balance,” said Jones. “It had speed, there with the pole, but just really free in the first segment. We put tires on and it got pretty tight at the end. We just kind of missed that adjustment, over-adjusted a little bit.
“Build a notebook, try to get better for the [Battle of Berlin] 250. I feel like we learned about this car, and need to button it up and get a little bit better.”
The most notable crash of the race was Boris Jurkovic bouncing off the grass and driving into the Turn 1 wall. He climbed out of the car and walked away from the scene of the incident.
Defending race winner Bubba Pollard fell off the pace around 60 laps in. He was able to hang onto a free pass spot before taking tires but the car did not positively respond to the changes. He pulled into the infield and called it quits around the 50 lap to go mark.
Next up for the UARA Super Late Model Series is the Motor Mountain Masters 150 at Jennerstown Speedway on Thursday, June 19.
Money in the Bank 150 IX Berlin Raceway May 3 2025
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
