Carson Hocevar rides the wave to NASCAR Cup pole at Texas
Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images
FORT WORTH, Texas—In a manner of speaking, Carson Hocevar called his shot at Texas Motor Speedway—and wound up on the pole for Sunday’s Wurth 400 Presented by LIQUI MOLY (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Before Saturday’s time trials at the 1.5-mile track, Hocevar said he hoped to capitalize on his last-in-the-order qualifying position—a benefit of his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday.
“Hopefully we can roll out last and take advantage of it,” Hocevar said. “Start up front, which is super important here. Pit stops are going to be important. Get a good pit selection and really keep the momentum rolling.”
It took a monumental lap for Hocevar to achieve that objective. Streaking around the speedway in 25.222 seconds (191.240 mph), he edged Spire Motorsports teammate Daniel Suarez (191.320 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.003 seconds.
The Busch Light Pole Award was the second of Hocevar’s career, with the first coming at Texas a year ago.
“Maybe going to (sponsor) Chili’s last night it weighed the car down just a little bit more, and I had a little more left-side weight,” joked Hocevar, who also won Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at TMS. “I don’t know where those three thousandths (of a second) are, but I’m glad I had ‘em in the bank.
“My lap felt pretty good. It wasn’t quite key it up on the radio and (say)… ‘If they beat that, they can have it,’ and they don’t get beat. It wasn’t quite doing that, but I was coming off Turn 4, and I was like, ‘If this isn’t fast, I’m going to be disappointed.’ It felt good.”
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher qualified third at 190.981 mph in the only Ford that cracked the top 10. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe tied for fourth at 190.786 mph, with Hamlin getting the nod for the higher starting spot on an owner points tiebreaker.
Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, series leader Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs completed the top 10 on the grid. Defending Cup champion Kyle Larson will start 11th.
Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace did not make qualifying attempts and will start from the rear of the field on Sunday. Dillon’s team changed the engine in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Wallace crashed in practice will start the race in a backup car.
“It was on edge, just like Texas is,” Wallace said of the accident. “Just trying to find the right balance for us and our team. So it was going to be a good debrief to figure out if we can get some more speed, but just have to rely on our teammates and go get it tomorrow.
“This is a very unforgiving place. So like I said, it (the No. 23 Camry) was around before I even knew it.”
Starting Line Up by Row
Texas Motor Speedway
W?rth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/2/2026 @ 02:40 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Greg Biffle 04/14/12 03:07:12 160.577
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 77 Carson Hocevar Spectrum Chevrolet 28.222 191.340
2 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 28.225 191.320
Row 2: 3 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Ford 28.275 190.981
4 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Insurance Toyota 28.304 190.786
Row 3: 5 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 28.304 190.786
6 8 Kyle Busch zone Watermelon x Circle K Chevrolet 28.330 190.611
Row 4: 7 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 28.353 190.456
8 45 Tyler Reddick ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK Toyota 28.359 190.416
Row 5: 9 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 28.364 190.382
10 54 Ty Gibbs Interstate Batteries Toyota 28.396 190.168
Row 6: 11 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 28.411 190.067
12 88 Connor Zilisch # Choice Privileges Chevrolet 28.430 189.940
Row 7: 13 2 Austin Cindric Freightliner Ford 28.442 189.860
14 9 Chase Elliott Amazon Prime Chevrolet 28.454 189.780
Row 8: 15 24 William Byron Valvoline/Heavy Duty Chevrolet 28.467 189.693
16 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Chevrolet 28.507 189.427
Row 9: 17 67 Corey Heim(i) Robinhood Toyota 28.520 189.341
18 35 Riley Herbst FRE Nicotine Pouches Toyota 28.537 189.228
Row 10: 19 71 Michael McDowell Modo Casino Chevrolet 28.548 189.155
20 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Ball Park Buns Ford 28.552 189.129
Row 11: 21 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 28.579 188.950
22 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Onin Staffing Chevrolet 28.606 188.772
Row 12: 23 22 Joey Logano Discount Tire Ford 28.618 188.692
24 21 Josh Berry WURTH Ford 28.619 188.686
Row 13: 25 6 Brad Keselowski Body Guard by Fastenal Ford 28.656 188.442
26 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 28.662 188.403
Row 14: 27 41 Cole Custer Haas/Andy's Chevrolet 28.676 188.311
28 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 28.694 188.193
Row 15: 29 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus/Costa Oil Chevrolet 28.726 187.983
30 97 Shane Van Gisbergen SuperFile Chevrolet 28.738 187.905
Row 16: 31 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Knauf Ford 28.754 187.800
32 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 28.772 187.682
Row 17: 33 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 28.774 187.669
34 38 Zane Smith Speedy Cash Ford 28.833 187.285
Row 18: 35 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 29.134 185.350
36 66 Chad Finchum(i) Cooper & Hunter Ford 30.613 176.396
Row 19: 37 23 Bubba Wallace Chumba Casino Toyota 0.000 0.000
38 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester AA White Flyer 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 17 0 Ford 11 0
Toyota 10 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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