With just four races remaining before the NASCAR Cup Series Chase field is set, Spire Motorsports heads to Iowa Speedway carrying momentum, playoff implications and a growing reputation as one of the garage’s most improved organizations.

The team enters Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol with Daniel Suárez, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar driving the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaros, respectively.

Among the three, Hocevar has emerged as the organization’s biggest story in 2026. The 23-year-old sits fifth in the Cup Series standings and is coming off a ninth-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Through 22 races, Hocevar has already posted career bests with one victory, five top-five finishes and nine top-10s, establishing himself as one of the season’s breakout performers.

The Michigan native also owns Spire Motorsports’ best Iowa Speedway result, finishing eighth in last year’s race.

“It is a really challenging track, but super fun to race at,” Hocevar said. “You are constantly racing the bumps and surface changes.”

Suárez, meanwhile, arrives at Iowa as the winner of this year’s Coca-Cola 600 and one of the most improved drivers in the series standings. After finishing 29th in points a year ago, the Mexican driver currently sits 11th thanks to a season that includes one victory, two top-five finishes and six top-10s.

Iowa is a venue where Suárez has enjoyed success throughout his NASCAR career. Before joining the Cup Series, he collected multiple top finishes and two poles in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition, leading 110 laps at the short track.

“Iowa Speedway is a special place for me because I have a lot of history there,” Suárez said.

For McDowell, Iowa represents one of the most statistically successful tracks of his NASCAR career. While his Cup results there have been modest, the Arizona native recorded seven top-10 finishes in eight O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts and owns a strong history dating back to ARCA competition.

“The heat, surface, roughness, changes and grip differences from patch to patch … there’s so much going on in one lap there,” McDowell said. “Iowa is very tricky.”