Hocevar Grabs First Cup Pole In Texas Qualifying

Carson Hocevar celebrates the Busch Light Pole Award at Texas Motor Speedway. (Rusty Jarrett/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

FORT WORTH, Texas – Michigan native Carson Hocevar sped to his first NASCAR Cup Series pole position during Busch Light Pole Qualifying Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hocevar took the No. 7 Chili’s Chevrolet, prepared by Spire Motorsports, to a lap of 28.175 seconds (191.659 mph) around the 1.5-mile quad-oval just outside of the Dallas metroplex.

The sophomore Cup Series driver’s maiden pole comes in his 56th start at the sport’s premier level.

At 22 years, three months, and five days old, Hocevar is the youngest-ever Cup Series pole winner at Texas. His qualifying speed was also the second-fastest in the Next-Gen era, which dates back to 2022.

“This is big,” Hocevar said. “It’s really big for all these Spire Motorsports guys. This is the same group – on pit road, off pit road, at the race shop working on the cars – from when I started with the team in the Cup Series last year. They were all in the thick of it with me my rookie year and they’ve stuck with me, so it’s huge to see where we’ve brought this team from then to now.

“To have Chili’s onboard … with the cowboy suit, there’s no better place to get a pole than right here at Texas,” Hocevar continued. “I’m normally so hard on myself, and I still didn’t think I nailed that lap at all, but I’m proud because I’ve never had the number one pit stall before today and I’ve had a lot of issues on pit road this year. I’m excited to have that advantage.

“Whether we’re doing two (tires), four (tires), or fuel only … knowing we’ll have an open exit (off pit lane) is a big deal. I’m excited to lead my first-ever Cup race to green.”

Hocevar held off a pair of Hendrick Motorsports drivers in William Byron and Kyle Larson, who were the final two drivers to turn a lap in time trials, for top qualifying honors.

Byron joins Hocevar on the front row for Sunday’s Wurth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY after posting the second-fastest qualifying lap of 28.189 seconds (191.564 mph) in the No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet.

“I felt a little slow coming to green … I don’t know if I just didn’t get off pit road as good or what, but I felt like I hit (turns) one and two pretty good,” Byron noted. “It was on the edge of being too tight, but then three and four were wide open. When I saw the time, I knew it wasn’t quite enough.”

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, the most recent Cup Series winner from Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, starts third alongside Larson. Hocevar’s teammate Michael McDowell rounded out the front five.

Sixth through 10th were Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and A.J. Allmendinger.

Notables starting deeper in the field include Christopher Bell (16th), Tyler Reddick (17th), Chase Briscoe (22nd), Ryan Blaney (24th), three-time and defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano (27th), and last year’s Texas winner Chase Elliott (29th).

NASCAR Xfinity Series young gun Jesse Love, making his second career Cup Series start, lines up 35th in the No. 62 C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports.

With just 38 drivers in attendance, no one failed to qualify for the 11th race of the Cup Series season.

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s Wurth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT), live on FS1, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.