FORT WORTH, Tex.–Ride ‘em, cowboy.
Decked out in Texas-appropriate attire, Carson Hocevar put his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole for Sunday’s WURTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
With the second fastest lap in the era of the Gen 7 car, Hocevar toured the 1.5 mile track in 28.175 seconds (191.659 mph) to edge 2023 race winner William Byron (191.564 mph) for the top starting position by 0.014 seconds.
The Busch Light Pole Award is the first of Hocevar’s career, and at age 22, he’s the youngest-ever pole winner at Texas.
Clad in a firesuit designed as a cowboy outfit–courtesy of sponsor Chili’s–and sporting a black 10-gallon hat, Hocevar reveled in the moment after his lap stood up to all comers.
“Having the cowboy outfit–what better place to be on the pole,” Hocevar said. “I’m normally so hard on myself, and I didn’t think I nailed that lap at all, but I’m super proud of this team.
“I’m so proud, because I’ve never had the No. 1 pit stall, and 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.”
Austin Cindric, last Sunday’s Talladega winner, qualified third at 191.523 mph in a closely compacted field. Larson, the last driver to make an attempt, was fourth at 191.421 mph.
With 10 drivers to go, Ty Gibbs topped the chart at 191.293 mph, but Michael McDowell, Hocevar’s teammate, eclipsed his time by 0.006 seconds in a lap at 191.333 mph.
“Obviously, with Michael going out and putting up a really good lap time, I felt like we were faster than him in practice, and that gave me a little bit of confidence that our stuff was going to be as quick, if not hopefully a little quicker,” Hocevar said.
McDowell will start fifth on Sunday, with Gibbs sixth. Josh Berry, three-time Texas winner Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and AJ Allmendinger completed the top 10 on the grid.
One driver who left the session with regret was Cindric, who felt he could have gone faster.
“I feel like I left a pole lap out there,” he said. “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 are at, but I definitely feel like you want to do it all.
“We’re in a great spot for (Sunday) and should have a good pit stall, so I feel good about where we are. We’ll try to go get another one.”
Defending race winner Chase Elliott will start 29th.
Note: Since the Gen 7 car was introduced in 2022, only Christopher Bell at Michigan International Speedway in 2023 has run a faster lap than Hocevar at Texas. Bell’s speed at the 2.0-mile track was 193.382 mph.
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
–Field Level Media
