Carson Hocevar celebrated his first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series by riding the 'Dente around Talladega Superspeedway.
LINCOLN, Ala. -- Carson Hocevar celebrated his first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series by riding the 'Dente around Talladega Superspeedway.
Hocevar passed Chris Buescher on the final lap to win Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega. The win was the first of Hocevar's career and Spire Motorsports' first full-length Cup win after their rain-shortened win at Daytona in July 2019.
"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," Hocevar said.
How did Hocevar get the win?
Hocevar narrowly missed the big one on lap 116 and finished the second stage in 12th. Being that far back in the pack, his pit crew didn't need to take as much fuel, which meant he exited pit road in third and got the front row for the restart with 38 laps to go.
The 23-year-old driver of Spire Motorsports' Chili's Ride the 'Dente Chevrolet led eight times for 19 laps, trading the lead with RFK Racing's Chris Buescher. Hocevar emerged ahead of Buescher with Alex Bowman's help giving him the right boost to the win.
"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... Unbelievable. I'm just so thankful, thank you," Hocevar said.
Hocevar, Buescher, Bowman, Chase Elliott, Zane Smith, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch were the top-10 finishers.
Buescher had a strong run off of turn four but Stenhouse's support to him wasn't as strong as Bowman's support to Hocevar.
"Really proud of everybody. That was a fun race all the way there at the end," Buescher said. 'I felt really good where we were at coming off turn four. Felt like we were in a spot to take this Ford Mustang into victory lane.
"Man, it was close."
Behind Buescher, Bowman earned by far his best finish of the 2026 season. He finished third, 15 spots ahead of his Kansas finish that had served as his best before Sunday.
However, Bowman was happy about something else.
"To be blunt, it just feels good to get out here without crashing. I'm getting old, don't have much of that left in me. Glad to get out of here clean," Bowman said.
Bowman's last top-five finish was a second-place finish at Richmond in August.
Like Bowman, Busch earned a much-needed good finish. With a 10th-place finish, he ended Richard Childress Racing's historic drought that saw them go without a top-10 in the first nine races in 2026.
The top-two in points, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin, finished 14th and 15th in the Cup points standings. They were both involved in the big one that collected 26 cars:
The big wreck was a stark contrast to the first stage of the race where the first 98 laps went caution-free. The stage saw teams trying to figure out the strategy, with the Fords' fuel saving winning out.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 98): Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, Ross Chastain.
After the big one, Ty Gibbs crashed hard with Michael McDowell on lap 125. That set up a run to the green-white-checkered that flew first over Ross Chastain.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 143): Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Zane Smith.
The final stage saw caution on lap 162 for Tyler Reddick dropping debris on the track and on lap 183 for Erik Jones spinning off of turn four while going for the win.
Jones finished 23rd, one lap down, after shredding the right-front fender in the spin.
That spin paved the way for Carson Hocevar to become the second Cup winner born in the 2000s, after Ty Gibbs earlier this month at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After taking home his first win, Hocevar delivered a unique celebration to fans in attendance at Talladega. He hung from the window as his car went through the tri-oval to the start-finish line where he tapped the wall and did a burnout before jumping on the roof of the car.
"I feel like every time I've ever see the crowd, really got to hear 'em, 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 don'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," Hocevar said.
A Portage, Michigan native, Hocevar grew up as a fan of the sport and vowed to become a driver he would've been a fan of as a kid. He has connected with fans in unique ways on social media, including with livestreams and posts that connect with a younger fanbase the motorsport is trying to chase, like Formula 1 has.
Combined with a unique personality like Cleetus McFarland, who nearly won Saturday's ARCA Menards Series race at the 2.66-mile behemoth and has captured similar attention as Hocevar, and the duo is getting the "H-ll Yeah!" era of NASCAR underway.
Up next is Texas Motor Speedway, where Carson Hocevar won the pole last year. Joey Logano won the race.
This year's race is set for 267 laps, 400 miles, with the green flag flying just after 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Here are the NASCAR Cup Series points standings after Talladega:
