April 26, 2026 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Carson Hocevar celebrates his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala.—Fitting for his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, Carson Hocevar turned in an ultra-original victory celebration sitting on the window ledge of his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet while driving around the massive 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway soaking up the emotions that will forever define and reward his first victory lap.

The huge crowd loved the unique celebration and the 23-year old Michigan native deservedly soaked it all in after earning a .114-second victory over Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing veteran Chris Buescher in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at the iconic Talladega track completing a solid, no-holds-barred three-lap run to the checkered flag for his first trophy in NASCAR’s premier series.

It marks the second time in the last three races a driver earned his first career victory – matching the work of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs two weeks ago at Bristol, Tenn.

“I’ve had this thought up for a while,’’ Hocevar said of his winning salute. “And I’ve messed it up every which way to not be able to do it. And I don’t care if I took me 20 minutes or whatever I was going to figure out how to do it.

“I’m just so thankful,’’ he said, the grandstand crowd roaring in approval. “This is the biggest dream I’ve ever thought of. Thank you everybody. I couldn’t have done it any better way. Hopefully my grandfather is watching. My grandmother died last year and I’m just so thankful I can give my grandfather a trophy now.’’

“Just unbelievable, I’m just so thankful,’’ he added. “I knew we were going to win. I really did.’’

Over the three years he’s competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, Hocevar has taken some criticism for his bold – at times imprudent – driving style. But on Sunday, Hocevar proved his metal in the big leagues leading 19 of the final 37 laps in the 188-lap classic and holding the field off on three late race restarts.

“He deserved it for sure and this is a perfect place for him to get it,’’ third place finisher, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman said of Hocevar.

Buescher, who also scored his career-best finish at Talladega said, “That was a fun race all the way until the end.

“Man, it was close. … awesome day and it was a good race.”

Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, a two-time Talladega winner, finished fourth in the No. 9 Chevrolet with Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith rallying to an impressive fifth place finish in the No. 38 Ford, also setting the fastest lap of the race.

Another former Talladega winner, Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Front Row’s Noah Gragson and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, whose 10th place showing Sunday was the first top-10 of the season for the venerable Richard Childress Racing team.

There were 16 leaders and 52 lead changes on the day, with JGR’s Christopher Bell leading a race-high 31 laps despite finishing 17th. RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece and Ross Chastain were the race’s two stage winners.

Half the field – literally – was eliminated from legitimate winning contention in a wild 26-car melee in Turn 3 on lap 115 that included championship leader Tyler Reddick among the two-dozen collected. And it all started up front.

Contact between the front cars of leader Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain triggered the chain reaction incident and brought out a 10-minute red flag stoppage. A handful of those involved – including 23XI Racing’s Wallace and fellow past Talladega winners and Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano – were no longer able to continue but a sizable number of those involved were able to return to the track.

“Got wrecked there, unfortunately,’’ Wallace offered in an understatement after leading three times on the day. “Our Xfinity Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars.

“Got to debrief, got to be better. Just kind of riding around, not doing much in the first stage – nothing to show for it at Talladega. Unfortunate, it is a place we come to with a lot of confidence, and it is what it is. We will put this one behind us and go on to Texas and have some fun.”

Blaney was equally as frustrated, but like so many of those caught up in the incident, also philosophical about the close-quarter brand of speedway racing that has so often produced NASCAR’s version of the “the big one.’’

“I feel like we all just got pinballing off each other there,’’ Blaney said, adding, “It’s not like there’s any blame on anybody. It’s what this thing is. We see each other. We all just kind of get bumping and banging and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is. It definitely stinks to be out early.” 

A five-time race winner this season, Reddick was also among those whose cars suffered damage in the massive mid-race incident. Hoping to win his fifth race from pole position this season, instead the Californian had to recover from damage in both the big accidents and then again after his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota clipped the wall with 27 to go.

He stayed on the lead lap and managed a 14th place finish in the 40-car field and maintains a commanding lead atop the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, 110 points over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin – one of Reddick’s 23XI Racing team owners.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves west for its annual stop at Texas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Joey Logano is the defending race winner.



NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 10
Race Results for the Jack Link's 500 - Sunday, April 26, 2026
Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL - 2.66 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 188 Laps - 500.08 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 4/26/2026 @ 07:12 PM Eastern

                                                     Stage 1   Stage 2 
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Pos           Pos Status Tms Laps

1 12 77 Carson Hocevar Chili's Ride the 'Dente Chevrolet 188 55 Running 8 19
2 10 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Jack Link's Ford 188 4 3 50 Running 8 22
3 20 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 188 8 37 Running
4 8 9 Chase Elliott Amazon Prime Chevrolet 188 9 35 Running
5 30 38 Zane Smith Aaron's/Boys & Girls Clubs of America Ford 188 10 34 Running
6 22 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chef Boyardee Chevrolet 188 4 38 Running 1 2
7 24 1 Ross Chastain Jockey VentraCool Air Chevrolet 188 10 1 41 Running 6 22
8 13 2 Austin Cindric Menards/FrogTape Ford 188 29 Running
9 29 4 Noah Gragson Grillo's Pickles/Pabst Blue Ribbon Ford 188 8 31 Running 1 2
10 34 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 188 27 Running
11 19 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops/Fleetguard Ford 188 9 5 34 Running
12 16 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 188 25 Running
13 35 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 188 24 Running
14 1 45 Tyler Reddick ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK Toyota 188 7 27 Running 1 2
15 3 11 Denny Hamlin King's Hawaiian UBE Coconut Rolls Toyota 188 22 Running 4 28
16 28 16 AJ Allmendinger Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 188 21 Running
17 14 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 188 2 29 Running 5 31
18 11 60 Ryan Preece BuildSubmarines.com Ford 188 1 6 34 Running 3 21
19 18 3 Austin Dillon 18 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Long Beard XR 188 Running 4 5
20 33 97 Shane Van Gisbergen WeatherTech Chevrolet 188 17 Running
21 36 51 Cody Ware Super.com Chevrolet 188 7 20 Running
22 23 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 187 15 Running
23 21 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 187 14 Running
24 40 78 * Daniel Dye(i) Champion Container Corporation Chevrolet 186 0 Running
25 17 35 Riley Herbst BEATBOX Toyota 186 12 Running
26 32 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 185 11 Running
27 37 33 * Jesse Love(i) 1-800-Pack-Rat Chevrolet 185 0 Running
28 38 66 * Chad Finchum(i) Knox Hydrate Ford 182 0 Running 1 8
29 5 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 180 8 Running 2 3
30 39 44 * Joey Gase(i) National Fire Prevention Association Chevrolet 177 0 Running
31 6 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 166 2 15 Running
32 31 71 Michael McDowell Gunk Chevrolet 149 5 Running 1 1
33 26 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 124 6 9 Accident
34 9 54 Ty Gibbs Saia Freight + Logistics Toyota 122 3 Accident 3 17
35 7 24 William Byron Phorm Energy Chevrolet 119 2 Accident
36 4 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Toyota 114 1 Accident 3 3
37 15 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 114 5 7 Accident
38 27 41 Cole Custer Haas/Autodesk Chevrolet 114 1 Accident
39 25 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 114 3 9 Accident 1 3
40 2 5 Kyle Larson Valvoline Chevrolet 114 1 Accident

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 23 Mins, 25 Secs. Average Speed: 147.504 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.114 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 60, 6, 22, 17, 12, 21, 45, 4, 34, 1
Stage 2 Top 10: 1, 20, 17, 47, 34, 60, 51, 48, 9, 38

Race Comments: Carson Hocevar won the Jack Link?s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, his first NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, no cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty.

Failed to Qualify: (1) 62 Casey Mears.

Caution Flags: 6 for 30 laps; Laps: 100-104 (Stage 1 Conclusion [16]); 116-121 (#2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 54, 66, 71, 77, 88, 97 incident turn 3 [Red Flag: Lap 115, 9:58] [None]); 125-129 (#54, 71 incident turn 4 [8]); 145-150 (Stage 2 Conclusion [2]); 162-166 (Debris [10]); 183-185 (#43 stalled on track [11]).

Lead Changes: 52 among 16 drivers; T. Reddick 0; D. Hamlin 1-2; A. Dillon 3; C. Briscoe 4-5; D. Hamlin 6-7; C. Briscoe 8; D. Hamlin 9; *. Finchum(i) 10-17; D. Hamlin 18-40; R. Preece 41-46; T. Reddick 47-48; T. Gibbs 49-60; M. McDowell 61; T. Gibbs 62-63; A. Dillon 64; T. Gibbs 65-67; A. Dillon 68-69; C. Bell 70-87; R. Preece 88-100; R. Stenhouse Jr. 101-102; B. Wallace 103; R. Chastain 104-105; B. Wallace 106; R. Chastain 107-110; J. Logano 111-113; B. Wallace 114; R. Preece 115-116; C. Bell 117-121; R. Chastain 122-131; C. Bell 132-135; R. Chastain 136-137; C. Bell 138; R. Chastain 139; C. Bell 140-142; R. Chastain 143-145; N. Gragson 146-147; C. Buescher 148-150; C. Hocevar 151-155; C. Buescher 156; C. Hocevar 157-160; C. Buescher 161-165; C. Hocevar 166; C. Buescher 167-172; C. Hocevar 173-174; C. Buescher 175; C. Hocevar 176-177; C. Buescher 178; C. Hocevar 179-180; C. Buescher 181-184; C. Hocevar 185-186; C. Buescher 187; C. Hocevar 188.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: May 3, 2026 - Texas Motor Speedway

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CURRENT NASCAR CUP SERIES STANDINGS

THrough April 26. 2026

UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL

1. Tyler Reddick 45 10 0 484 0 0 5 0
2. Denny Hamlin 11 10 0 374 -110 110 1 3
3. Ryan Blaney 12 10 0 344 -140 30 1 1
4. Chase Elliott 9 10 2 340 -144 4 1 0
5. Ty Gibbs 54 10 -1 322 -162 18 1 1
6. Kyle Larson 5 10 -1 315 -169 7 0 3
7. Chris Buescher 17 10 4 309 -175 6 0 0
8. Carson Hocevar 77 10 4 292 -192 17 1 0
9. Christopher Bell 20 10 1 290 -194 2 0 2
10. Brad Keselowski 6 10 -1 279 -205 11 0 2
11. William Byron 24 10 -4 277 -207 2 0 1
12. Bubba Wallace 23 10 -4 276 -208 1 0 2
13. Ryan Preece 60 10 0 269 -215 7 0 1
14. Daniel Suarez 7 10 2 235 -249 34 0 0
15. Joey Logano 22 10 -1 234 -250 1 0 0
16. Austin Cindric 2 10 1 226 -258 8 0 1
17. Chase Briscoe 19 10 -2 222 -262 4 0 0
18. Ross Chastain 1 10 2 205 -279 17 0 2
19. Shane Van Gisbergen 97 10 -1 195 -289 10 0 0
20. Zane Smith 38 10 2 183 -301 12 0 1