NASCAR
Carson Hocevar Comes in Clutch at Talladega for First NASCAR Cup Triumph
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega capped off a tripleheader weekend filled with first-time winners finding victory lane. Carson Hocevar was the one left celebrating after outlasting Chris Buescher in a drawn out duel to the checkered flag. Spire Motorsports driver No. 77 is finally a Cup winner, giving this team their second triumph in his 91st career start.
Ford performance reigned supreme in Stage 1, with Ryan Preece taking this opening win. While the first stage’s marathon 98 laps ran caution-free, the opposite happened in Stage 2. Early in this middle segment saw Bubba Wallace turned from the lead on lap 115. Once the wrecking stopped in turn three, 25 other bystanders were collected in The Huge One. Stage 2 eventually went to the 1 of Ross Chastain.
Contact at the front of the field!
Many, many cars are collected in this @TALLADEGA incident! pic.twitter.com/ebOpaeiVRm
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 26, 2026
The final stage went green with Chris Buescher out front, but Carson Hocevar soon overtook him. The Nos. 17 and 77 continued an absolute dogfight for the duration of Stage 3, swapping the lead amongst each other several times. Following a restart with three laps left, Buescher was barely ahead at the white flag. Thanks to help falling off behind the 17, Hocevar was able to be clear in the trioval and win the drag race back to the finish.
Following his maiden Cup victory, Hocevar sat on his door to ‘Ride the Dente’ to victory lane in his Chili’s Chevrolet. This winning celebration had shades of Dale Earnhardt but was also just crazy enough to be uniquely Hocevar. No Talladega winner ever took quite this ride to the winner’s circle.
Iconic. Carson Hocevar celebrates at Talladega hanging out the window. pic.twitter.com/Na2Qf3EPuE
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 26, 2026
“I feel like every time I ever see the crowd, I never really got to hear ’em,” Hocevar said. “I’ve had this thought up for a while. I’ve messed it up every which way to not be able to do it. I didn’t care if it took 20 minutes or whatever, I was going to figure it out how to do it. It took me a while. I’m out of breath.”
“I’m so thankful. This is the biggest dream I’ve ever thought of. Thank you, everybody. I couldn’t have done it in any better way. Hopefully my grandpa’s watching. My grandma died last year, so I’m so thankful that I can give my grandpa a trophy now. Wish my parents were here. All thanks to Jeff Dickerson. We Rode the ‘Dente today that’s for sure. I gotta wear some Heat waves. Everybody is here. Unbelievable. I’m just so thankful, thank you.”
“I posted on Instagram that I didn’t care where, we were going to win, and we won. So I’m just so thankful. I knew we were going to win. I really did.”
Behind Hocevar and Buescher at the finish were: Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, and Zane Smith. The rest of Talladega’s top 10 were: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson, and Kyle Busch. Tyler Reddick was 14th but holds a 110-point championship lead over Denny Hamlin, who finished 15th.
NASCAR Cup Series cars will be back in action next Sunday from Texas Motor Speedway. The Würth 400 is the third intermediate race of the season and the last dance in The Lone Star State. The Texas-sized show goes green Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Cowboy Carson Hocevar will try and go back-to-back at a track where he was fast a year ago.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
