Hocevar hammers out overtime NASCAR Truck Series victory at TMS
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) celebrates winning the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
FORT WORTH – Carson Hocevar is NASCAR’s definition of “smokin’ hot.”
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) takes the checked flag in the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
Five days after scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway, Hocevar emerged as the winner of a two-lap shootout at Texas Motor Speedway that served as an exclamation point to a frantic NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250.
The night’s second red flag stoppage for 6 minutes, 12 seconds for a frontstretch incident involving five trucks set up the overtime after 166 laps of a race originally scheduled for 167 around TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval. When the race went green on Lap 170, leader Giovanni Ruggiero – racing from the bottom lane – and Hocevar ran side-by-side…until the latter used the momentum generated by the outside lane to clear Ruggiero.
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) celebrates after winning the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
Once clear of a scrambling pack, Hocevar bolted to a margin of victory of 0.730-seconds over Spire Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion.
“It’s unbelievable. It means a lot,” Hocevar said after exiting his No. 77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet Silverado and walking to the flag stand to retrieve the checkered flag. “Everybody on the fence (chanting his name), thank you. What a fun race! I was having such a fun time out there.
“We ran in reverse order, obviously, 1-2 with Kyle. Yeah, I watched him win a lot of truck races. But I’m good with him…I have all the respect in the world for him and enjoy racing with him. I mean, he’s won a thousand of these, basically.” Busch, 40, is the all-time Truck Series race-winner at TMS with six.
A 23-year-old native of Portage, Mich., Hocevar said his win on Talladega’s daunting 2.66-mile oval definitely gave him a confidence boost heading into “The Great American Speedway” in Cowtown.
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) celebrates winning the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
“Yeah, I look at myself a lot different,” said Hocevar, who led five times for a race-high 76 laps. “The heroes I grew up watching just won everything. And there’s no excuses. Ultimately, I enjoy every little bit of this. If you’re a hero, you should take whatever they give you and win with that.”
Hocevar won his first career NCTS race here on April 1, 2023 driving the No. 42 Chevrolet for Niece Motorsports. He now has six wins in 87 career NCTS starts.
Asked to explain the difference between himself and his peers on this night, Hocevar quipped, “I think the cocky answer would be _ the difference is in what’s in the seat, for sure. But we were really good on restarts. These (Spire) guys do a really, really good job. It’s been a struggle on the truck side but so thankful to get it done here and give Spire a 1-2.” Hocevar’s crew chief is Chad Walter.
Busch was looking to extend his status as the all-time Truck Series winner at TMS with Victory No. 7. “We had an eventful night,” said Busch, who was forced to pit under green during Stage 1 to replace a blown right front Goodyear Eagle tire. That unscheduled stop dropped Busch one lap down.
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar (77) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Brandon Jones (1) during the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
“Struggling with grip all night long,” said Busch, driver of the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. “On the last set of tires there we were really fast, felt really good. Brian (Pattie, crew chief) and the guys made a lot of good calls to get us dialed back in. Would have been nice to be in Victory Lane but it’s good to have a teammate in there and get his shot.”
Texan Kaden Honeycutt finished third in the Safelite/Foster Love Toyota Tundra fielded by TRICON Garage. “I’m proud to be able to drive a truck like this. It’s disappointing that I just keep failing,” said Honeycutt, a 22-year-old native of Willow Park who led once for three laps. “There’s no excuse for it. As soon as I got the lead, I didn’t protect it right, I didn’t do the right things and ultimately that’s what led us to lose.
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Clayton Green (2) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Jake Garcia (98) during the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
“All my guys have done such an excellent job. Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) did really good adjustments all day to help me out and I felt like once we got the track position at that last stage I thought we were one of the best trucks.
“Just gotta figure out how to get restarts done. I’ve gotta figure out how to win races. It’s eating me alive, I can promise you that. Just want to thank everyone at Toyota Racing – Toyota Tundras are built here in Texas, and I just wanted to get a win for them today because we definitely had a truck to do it.”
Honeycutt was followed by teammate Brandon Jones in the No. 1 Sprecher Toyota and pole-sitter Ben Rhodes in the No. 99 TYM Ford fielded by ThorSport Racing.
May 1, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; The wrecked truck of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Conner Jones (42) sits in the infield during the 28th Annual SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson
“Heck, I’ll take that,” said Jones, a 29-year-old native of Atlanta. “What a long, crazy night that was. Just trying to learn these trucks again. This was our first of four (starts) this year, and just fun to come over to TRICON and have Sprecher Root Beer come on board. I think we had a really fast truck here tonight and circumstantial – could’ve won the race. It all just depended on what lane you were in.
“There was a lot of chaos at the end of that race, obviously. A lot of beating and banging so it was just about picking the right lane and being in the right place at the right time. I was happy with that. Gio (Ruggerio) almost had one, too, so we were really close as an organization, I think. Just really, really fun tonight.” Ruggiero led twice for 22 laps in TRICON Garage’s JBL Toyota.
Hocevar prevailed at the end of Stage 2 by 0.293-seconds over Honeycutt, who exited Texas with a 14-point lead over Chandler Smith in the standings. Completing the top-10 in Stage 2 were Ruggerio, Dawson Sutton, Tyler Ankrum, Mini Tyrrell, Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Smith and Andres Perez De Lara of Mexico. Rhodes made quick work of Stage 1, leading all 40 laps. He finished with 41 laps-led as one of nine leaders.
Kyle Busch and crew chief Andy Street will make their competitive 2026 debuts in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series WURTH 400 presented by Liqui Moly.
Street has replaced Jim Pohlman, who joined Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet team from JR Motorsports during the offseason. But 10 races into the 2026 schedule, Busch is mired in 27th in the standings. A two-time Cup champ, Busch has logged one top-10 finish, no top-fives, an average start of 22.6 and an average finish of 22.1. “Rowdy’s” best result for the team owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Childress is 10th at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday.
“This move is about putting our people in the best position to succeed,” Childress said in announcing the change on Tuesday. “We have strong talent across this organization, and we’re focused on having each person in the right position to help deliver the results we expect.”
Street, who briefly worked with Busch at the end of last season, reportedly has the job for the rest of 2026. Pohlman reportedly is moving into a leadership role in RCR’s Competition Department in Welcome, N.C.
Busch, 40, won his Cup titles in 2015 and 2019 driving Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Austin Dillon, Busch’s RCR teammate, believes the move is not an overreaction.
“Well, I think there’s no reason not to (change),” Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester AA White Flyer Chevrolet, said during a presser in the track’s infield media center Friday afternoon. “They weren’t very performing and I think everybody was looking at that. But I think Jim also wanted to make a change. I think that there’s multiple reasons, but the obvious reason was that we had someone in-house that had some success with Kyle at the end of last year and was willing to step-up and do the job.
“I think it was something that Jim also wanted to do…whatever we needed to do as a company to run better, and if that’s moving Andy into that role. I hope that Jim stays and can be an asset to the company and help us make our cars better in another role than just being on the box on Sunday.
“What really moves the needle, truthfully, for all these teams is what gets done at the shop during the week. Jim has proven, over his long tenure in NASCAR, that he can build fast race cars.”
Recall that Dillon – the 36-year-old grandson of Childress – won the 2020 Cup race on TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval. But Dillon’s team is in a similar situation to Busch – 24th in points with no wins, top-fives, top-10s, or poles. Austin’s average start is 21.1 and his average finish is 21.6. Amazingly, the No. 3 Chevy made famous by seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt has led only five laps this season.
Justin Allgaier secured pole position for the 22nd annual Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway with a hot lap of 28.631-seconds/188.607 mph. Driver of the No. 7 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet fielded by JR Motorsports, Allgaier will be joined in the front row by Brandon Jones in the No. 20 Menards/Sylvania Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.
The pole is the 13th in 516 career series starts for Allgaier, a 39-year-old native of Springfield, Ill. The pole also is the second in 29 races at TMS for Allgaier, who – ironically – has yet to win an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at “No Limits, Texas.” Allgaier is paired with crew chief Andrew Overstreet.
Completing the top-10 are Cup Series regulars Kyle Larson and Connor Zilisch, both of JR Motorsports; rookie Brent Crews of Joe Gibbs Racing, Corey Day of Hendrick Motorsports, Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing, Jeremy Clements of Jeremy Clements Racing, Ryan Sieg of RSS Racing and Parker Retzlaff of Viking Motorsports.
Houston native David Starr will start 35th in the 38-car field via owner points in the No. 38 Clean Burn Chevrolet fielded by Joey Gase Motorsports. Starr’s crew chief is Garrett Harrington. Starr, 58, owns and operates Team Texas High Performance Driving School, which offers high-speed driving experiences at TMS.
The event will be televised beginning at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) on the CW Network.
Texas Motor Speedway is playing host to all three NASCAR touring series for a third consecutive season this weekend. This will be the only visit NASCAR will make into the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
Friday night’s Craftsman Truck SpeedyCash.com 250 marked the series’ 52nd appearance at TMS – the most of any track on the schedule.
The Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race will be featured Saturday. The race title has been rebranded from the traditional “300” to “340” to celebrate Andy’s Frozen Custard’s 40th anniversary, but the race distance of 300 miles/200 laps has remained unchanged.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup WURTH 400 presented by Liqui Moly will be the 46th NCS event contested at “The Great American Speedway” since its inaugural campaign in 1997.
Interview: NCTS race winner Carson Hocevar (No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet) –
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – SpeedyCash.com 250
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Friday, May 1, 2026
1. (11) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 172.
2. (6) Kyle Busch(i), Chevrolet, 172.
3. (10) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 172.
4. (18) Brandon Jones(i), Toyota, 172.
5. (1) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 172.
6. (34) Layne Riggs, Ford, 172.
7. (14) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 172.
8. (12) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 172.
9. (20) Ty Majeski, Ford, 172.
10. (8) Chandler Smith, Ford, 172.
11. (19) Parker Kligerman, RAM, 172.
12. (23) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 172.
13. (17) Brenden Queen #, RAM, 172.
14. (3) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 172.
15. (13) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 172.
16. (22) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 172.
17. (21) William Sawalich(i), Toyota, 171.
18. (27) Toni Breidinger, Chevrolet, 171.
19. (7) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 171.
20. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 170.
21. (28) Mini Tyrrell #, RAM, 170.
22. (31) Josh Reaume, Ford, 169.
23. (32) Frankie Muniz, Ford, 168.
24. (33) Caleb Costner, Chevrolet, 168.
25. (25) Corey LaJoie, RAM, 165.
26. (29) Clayton Green, Ford, 165.
27. (24) Justin Haley, RAM, Accident, 164.
28. (5) Tanner Gray, Toyota, Accident, 164.
29. (2) Jake Garcia, Ford, Accident, 163.
30. (15) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, Accident, 163.
31. (26) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 163.
32. (9) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 156.
33. (16) Conner Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 155.
34. (35) Cory Roper, Toyota, Suspension, 123.
35. (4) Cole Butcher #, Ford, Accident, 51.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 112.924 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 17 Mins, 5 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.730 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 39 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Rhodes 1-41;C. Hocevar(i) 42;B. Jones(i) 43-58;C. Hocevar(i) 59-75;D. Sutton 76-77;M. Tyrrell # 78;C. Hocevar(i) 79-121;L. Riggs 122-127;T. Gray 128-129;D. Sutton 130-132;G. Ruggiero 133-148;K. Honeycutt 149-151;C. Hocevar(i) 152-164;G. Ruggiero 165-170;C. Hocevar(i) 171-172.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Carson Hocevar(i) 5 times for 76 laps; Ben Rhodes 1 time for 41 laps; Giovanni Ruggiero 2 times for 22 laps; Brandon Jones(i) 1 time for 16 laps; Layne Riggs 1 time for 6 laps; Dawson Sutton 2 times for 5 laps; Kaden Honeycutt 1 time for 3 laps; Tanner Gray 1 time for 2 laps; Mini Tyrrell # 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 99,77,17,11,38,52,9,34,88,45
Stage #2 Top Ten: 77,11,17,26,18,14,9,15,38,44
