Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on May 03, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo by Michael C. Johnson

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

FORT WORTH – His reputation for raw speed proved spot-on for Carson Hocevar Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, where the Michigander qualified on-pole for the WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY with a record-setting lap.

Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on May 03, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Hocevar claimed his first career Busch Light Pole Award ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race by touring TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval in 28.175-seconds/191.659 mph. A second-year driver for Spire Motorsports, Hocevar earned his first Cup pole in his 56th event.

At age 22, the native of Portage, Mich., is the youngest NCS pole-winner at “The Great American Speedway.” That mark previously was set by 23-year-old Brian Vickers of Hendrick Motorsports in 2006.

“I’m normally so hard on myself – and I still didn’t think I nailed that lap at all – but super-proud of this team and proud because I’ve never been the No. 1 pit stall,” said Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet. “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. And I’m excited to lead my first-ever Cup race to green.”

Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on May 03, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images)

Hocevar now – will bid for his first Cup victory after recording his third top-five start of the season and fourth among the top-10. His previous career-best starting spot was second, on the egg-shaped, 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway during the 2024 season. His previous best Cup finish working with crew chief Luke Lambert was second in the Ambetter 400 at the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 23.

Hocevar will be joined in the two-car front row by William Byron after his lap of 28.189-seconds/191.564 mph in the No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports. Byron’s run was 0.014-seconds shy of P1 but stout enough for his seventh top-10 in 11 starts.

Dissecting his hot lap, Hocevar termed it super-smooth. “They said it was P-1 and that’s ultimately where I was like, ‘Man, it felt so good, it felt slow!’^” said Hocevar, wearing a black cowboy hat awarded to the pole-winner during his post-qualifying press conference. “So, yeah, really fortunate, really thankful to have a fast car. Obviously, fastest in practice (190.894 mph earlier Saturday morning) and you want to do it again in qualifying and be able to back that up.

“This is the same crew on pit road, off pit road, at the shop – everyone working on the No. 77 is exactly the same as when I started here at Spire last year. They were a lot of the same guys who were in the thick of it, so it’s just huge what we’ve been able to bring this team.

“I think it’s really important for our group to show the strength of being able to go from practice to qualifying adjustments and where we’ve been going and be able to do that for the race, too. Just put together a whole weekend and whole race worth of adjustments, and I think we’re getting a lot closer right now.”

Since the Gen 7 platform was introduced by NASCAR in 2022, only Oklahoma native Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing has recorded a faster lap than Hocevar at TMS. A three-time winner this season in the No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota, Bell laid down a lap-speed of 193.382 mph at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway in 2023.

Hocevar will lead a 38-car field to the green flag for the scheduled 267-lap/400.5-miler beginning at 2:30 p.m. (CDT). FOX Sports 1 will provide the TV broadcast with radio coverage available on PRN, SiriusXM and Lone Star 92.5 FM locally.

Hocevar’s raw speed rep has its roots in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Hocevar, in fact, scored his first NCTS win at TMS in April 2023, yet struggled when asked to explain his celerity.

“It’s not a fun answer to say ‘I don’t know,’ but I really don’t,” Hocevar said. “There’s a lot of times where I don’t know why I’m fast or why I’m slow at times, right? You know, I feel like I study different than a lot of (other drivers). I use real videos a lot more. I look at dirt videos more. I think the most footage I watched was about the 2007 to 2010 Texas races just for fun, but also to kind of just get an idea.

“I just feel like I have a really good sense of, like, unloading. I feel like that’s why we’re always good at unloading and just getting the limit. And I think that sort of studying helps me and has fit my style of just wanting to be present and learn it as I go. There’s been times where I don’t know where my feet are supposed to be and I don’t know where my hands are supposed to be yet, and I’ll just figure out how to slow my hands down when I get there.

“A lot of it’s just been kind of trial-by-fire of not wanting to be slow, really. I’m always trying to search; be creative and never put myself in a box. I just know I go a lot off instinct, natural feel and visible, and just use as many senses as I can in the car. And I try to live my life as confident and as free-will as I can just because I know I’m racing off instinct alone basically out there. If I’m confident myself, I feel like I’ll make confident decisions out there.”

NASCAR’s three national touring series haven’t competed at TMS since April 2024, prompting most teams to dust off their notes on the track’s uniquely banked layout. Turns 3 and 4 are banked at 24 degrees, while Turns 1 and 2 were lowered to 20 degrees during a repave/reconfiguration in 2017.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric – last Sunday’s winner on the high-banked/2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway – will start third after his lap of 28.195-seconds/191.523 mph.

“I definitely had a high-commitment lap there,” said Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “A lot of pressure on the (Turn) 1 corner, with (Turns) 3 and 4 being wide-open. 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’re at, but I definitely feel like you want to do it all.”

Cindric said the series’ once-a-year visit to “No Limits, Texas” reminds him of racing at the now defunct 2-mile California Speedway in Fontana. “It’s such a unique racetrack and we’d go there once a year at the beginning of the year and so many things change,” Cindric said. “And then you go back and, omigosh, we got to apply all these things that changed to this racetrack that kinda doesn’t really line-up with anywhere else.

“The track (TMS surface) continues to age, as well, so keeping up with that is a challenge. I don’t think it’s going to hurt (passing). I saw the trucks race (Friday night) with not a ton of laps on it and guys still being able to not completely fail when they got into the second lane. I think that makes an impact on the racing and the sooner that can happen the sooner you have two grooves.

“But it is still a really narrow line and similar to Darlington how narrow the line is and how important track position is. That’ll really drive a lot of strategy throughout the race.”

Cup veteran Denny Hamlin will start eighth after his lap at 28.248-seconds/191.164 mph in the No. 11 Progressive Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. Asked about the peculiarities of car-setup at TMS, Hamlin said, “A lot of it is you really need to figure out whether you’re going to be good in one corner or good in the other. It’s really hard to be good in both simply because of the banking differences and how different you have to drive the car.”

Completing the top-five were Hendrick Motorsports ace Kyle Larson at 28.210-seconds/191.421 mph in the No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet and Michael McDowell, Hocevar’s Spire Motorsports teammate at 28.223-seconds/191.333 mph in the No. 71 Delaware Life Chevy.

Former Prosper resident Chris Buescher placed seventh after a lap at 28.309-seconds/190.752 mph. Winless this season after scoring a combined total of four victories in 2023-2024, Buescher acknowledged, “I’m not a points-racer, just trying to figure out how to win the next one.”

Buescher’s disappointing start during the season’s first 10 races features five DNFs and only two laps-led in the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford fielded by Roush Fenway Racing. “To go out that early in qualifying and trying to rebound from last week (34^th at Talladega), that’s not bad,” Buescher said after his TMS run. “It’s a tough track, it’s a tough weekend.

“But you look at the last four or five races here – your accident reports and everything involved – I don’t know that it was ever not difficult here since the reconfiguration. Yeah, there’s a challenge to being a year removed from a racetrack no matter where it is, so there’s a little extra. But this place is treacherous and it has been for a long time. We’re always a little on-edge coming out here.

“It’s (the racing surface) gone through some seasons and I hope that the PJ1, as it continues to wear-off, gets back to a more traditional asphalt that we’re able to move around on. I watched the truck race and I’d say there was definitely two-wide racing, but there’s not three. It’s still a very narrow groove.”

Defending race-winner Chase Elliott, also of Hendrick Motorsports, will start 29^th via his lap of 28.588-seconds/188.890 mph in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy.

Event tickets and camping passes for the 2025 Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY NASCAR weekend remain on sale. Click HERE for more information and to buy tickets.