Hocevar keeps the speed and grabs first career Cup pole at Texas
Carson Hocevar backed up his practice speed by claiming his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway with a lap of (...)
Carson Hocevar backed up his practice speed by claiming his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway with a lap of 191.659mph (28.175s).
It’s his first pole in his 56th career start. Hocevar also ran the second-fastest qualifying speed in the Next Gen era (fastest being Christopher Bell from Michigan in 2023 at 193.382mph).
“It’s really big,” Hocevar said of winning the pole. “It’s really big for these guys. It’s super impressive for they’ve been able to do. This is the same group that on pit road, off pit road, at the shop, everyone working on this No. 77 is exactly the same as I started here at Spire (Motorsports) with last year. They were a lot of the same guys who were in the thick of it, so it’s huge where we’ve been able to bring this team.
“Chili’s coming on board and being able to Ride the Dente, and having the cowboy (firesuit) outfit — what better place to get on the pole? I’m normally so hard on myself and I still didn’t think I nailed that lap at all, but I’m super proud of this team and proud because I’ve never been the No. 1 pit stall. I’ve had a lot of issues with pit road and we’ve had a lot of bad luck, so I finally get the No. 1 pit stall and I’m pumped about that.”
Hocevar is also the youngest driver to win a pole at Texas Motor Speedway.
William Byron qualified second. His fast lap was 191.564mph.
Austin Cindric qualified third at 191.523mph, Kyle Larson fourth at 191.421mph, Michael McDowell — Hocevar’s teammate — fifth at 191.333mph and Ty Gibbs sixth at 191.293mph.
“Definitely had a high-commitment lap there,” said Cindric, who is the most recent Cup Series winner. “A lot of pressure on one corner, with 3 and 4 being wide open. I felt like this would be a good shot for pole for us after practice with the strengths of the Dark Horse Ford Mustang. I don’t know what the margin is, but I feel like I left a pole lap out there.
“I sent it into Turn 1 and didn’t quite get to the bottom and didn’t quite maximize my exit. I guess I can be happy with where we are at, but I definitely feel like you want to do it all. We are in a great spot for tomorrow and should have a good pit stall, so I feel good about where we are at for tomorrow. We will try to go get another one.”
Josh Berry qualified seventh at 191.266mph, Denny Hamlin eighth at 191.164mph, Bubba Wallace ninth at 191.157mph and AJ Allmendinger 10th at 190.975mph.
Alex Bowman slotted in 11th and Chris Buecher, 12th. Christopher Bell qualified 16th while Tyler Reddick qualified 17th. Chase Briscoe qualified 22nd and Ryan Blaney, 24th.
Kyle Busch is mired in 26th, then it was Joey Logano in 27th, Chase Elliott 29th and Brad Keselowski 30th. Ross Chastain qualified 31st, Ryan Preece 33rd and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 34th.
Elliott is the defending winner at Texas Motor Speedway.
NEXT: The Wurth 400 at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
