Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Texas
Carson Hocevar earns first NASCAR Cup pole, William Byron 2nd in Texas
Hocevar delivers the Spire Motorsports team its second pole of the 2025 season while scoring the first of his young Cup career
Nick DeGroot
Edited: May 3, 2025, 9:50 PM
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Setting a fast time of 28.174s, Carson Hocevar was able to hang on for his first career pole in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on Saturday. It's a front row lockout for Team Chevy with William Byron putting the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in second, just 0.014s behind Hocevar's pole lap. Hocevar was also the fastest driver in the practice session that immediately preceded qualifying.
"It's really big," smiled Hocevar. "It's really big for these guys. It's super impressive for what they've been able to do. This is the same group on pit road, off pit road, at the shop -- everyone working on the No. 77 is exactly the same as when I started here. It's just huge where we've been able to bring this team."
Hocevar admitted that he can be hard on himself at times, and didn't think he "nailed that lap," despite going to the top of the board. "Super proud of this team," he continued. "I've never been number one pit stall and I've had a lot of issue s on pit road. We've had a lot of bad luck, so I finally get the number one pit stall and I'm pumped about that."
Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images
Last weekend's Talladega race winner Austin Cindric timed in third, leading the Ford camp. Kyle Larson was fourth and Hocevar's Spire Motorsports teammate Michael McDowell was fifth. Ty Gibbs led the Toyotas in sixth, followed by Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and AJ Allmendinger.
Defending Texas winner Chase Elliott will start deep in the field, only going fast enough for 29th. The good news is that he came from 24th on the grid to win here last year. He's not the only notable driver with some work to do on Sunday either with Ryan Blaney 24th, Kyle Busch 26th, Joey Logano 27th, Brad Keselowski 30th, and Ross Chastain 31st.
There were no incidents during the qualifying session. History shows that the pole-sitter has not been able to translate that into a Cup win at Texas in three years of the Nex Gen era, which is something Hocevar will surely be hoping to change tomorrow. Perhaps the practice here is paying off: Hocevar has already been on track racing this weekend, as the only Cup driver to also run the Truck race on Friday night. He was solidly in second place when a battery issue derailed his night.
Photos from Texas - Practice
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NASCAR Cup
45
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Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 C. HocevarSpire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 1
28.175
191.659 2 W. ByronHendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 1
+0.014
28.189
0.014 191.564 3 A. CindricTeam Penske 2 Ford 1
+0.020
28.195
0.006 191.523 4 K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 1
+0.035
28.210
0.015 191.421 5 M. McDowellSpire Motorsports 71 Chevrolet 1
+0.048
28.223
0.013 191.333 6 T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing 54 Toyota 1
+0.054
28.229
0.006 191.293 7
J. BerryWood Brothers Racing
21 Ford 1
+0.058
28.233
0.004 191.266 8 D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 1
+0.073
28.248
0.015 191.164 9 B. Wallace23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1
+0.074
28.249
0.001 191.157 10 A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 1
+0.101
28.276
0.027 190.975 11 A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 1
+0.109
28.284
0.008 190.921 12 C. BuescherRFK Racing 17 Ford 1
+0.134
28.309
0.025 190.752 13 Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports 38 Ford 1
+0.150
28.325
0.016 190.644 14 E. JonesLegacy Motor Club 43 Toyota 1
+0.159
28.334
0.009 190.584 15 J. HaleySpire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 1
+0.162
28.337
0.003 190.564 16 C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 1
+0.181
28.356
0.019 190.436 17 T. Reddick23XI Racing 45 Toyota 1
+0.188
28.363
0.007 190.389 18 N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports 4 Ford 1
+0.193
28.368
0.005 190.355 19 A. DillonRichard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 1
+0.206
28.381
0.013 190.268 20 C. CusterHaas Factory Team 41 Ford 1
+0.263
28.438
0.057 189.887 21 R. Herbst23XI Racing 35 Toyota 1
+0.272
28.447
0.009 189.827 22 C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1
+0.274
28.449
0.002 189.813 23 T. DillonKaulig Racing 10 Chevrolet 1
+0.300
28.475
0.026 189.640 24 R. BlaneyTeam Penske 12 Ford 1
+0.337
28.512
0.037 189.394 25 D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 1
+0.357
28.532
0.020 189.261 26 K. BuschRichard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 1
+0.366
28.541
0.009 189.201 27 J. LoganoTeam Penske 22 Ford 1
+0.370
28.545
0.004 189.175 28 J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club 42 Toyota 1
+0.379
28.554
0.009 189.115 29 C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 1
+0.413
28.588
0.034 188.890 30 B. KeselowskiRFK Racing 6 Ford 1
+0.461
28.636
0.048 188.574 31 R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 1
+0.483
28.658
0.022 188.429 32 T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports 34 Ford 1
+0.484
28.659
0.001 188.422 33 R. PreeceRFK Racing 60 Ford 1
+0.521
28.696
0.037 188.180 34 R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports 47 Chevrolet 1
+0.529
28.704
0.008 188.127 35
J. LoveBeard Motorsports
62 Chevrolet 1
+0.760
28.935
0.231 186.625 36 C. WareRick Ware Racing 51 Ford 1
+0.767
28.942
0.007 186.580 37 S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing 88 Chevrolet 1
+1.018
29.193
0.251 184.976 38 C. FinchumGarage 66 66 Ford 1
+1.658
29.833
0.640 181.008
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