NASCAR Cup Brickyard 400 starting lineup: Carson Hocevar earns pole in Spire 1-2

Carson Hocevar and Spire Motorsports teammate Daniel Suarez will lead the field to the green flag for the 2026 edition of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hocevar was 0.056s clear of Suarez, earning his third career pole and his second of the 2026 season. The pole lap was 48.232s, averaging 186.598mph around the historic track.

"It's just unbelievable," said Hocevar. "I got out of the car and they were yelling and cheering and everything. I couldn't believe it, and I appreciate it. I don't know if they were cheering just because I beat Denny or the fact that we're on the front row. I'm super pumped. Denny stole one from me at Michigan, and this is the home town for Jeff (Dickerson, co-owner at Spire) and everybody at Spire. Just fun to use our own notes these last two years and get these cars better. Just enjoying it. These guys work really hard."

Watch: Hocevar ecstatic after claiming Brickyard 400 pole

He added that he's going to "soak this in a lot" as Indianapolis is his favorite track on the schedule.

23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick was the best Toyota driver in third, followed by the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth, respectively.

The third Spire car wasn't far behind either, with Michael McDowell sixth. Part-timer Corey Heim qualified a strong seventh, while Alex Bowman led the way for Hendrick Motorsports in eighth. Earlier in the weekend, Bowman announced plans to retire after the 2027 season.

A.J. Allmendinger earned an impressive starting spot for Kaulig Racing in ninth, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top ten.

The highest-qualifying Ford driver was Ryan Blaney in 13th, and there are a lot of notables with some work to do on Sunday. Last week's winner, Joey Logano, starts 19th on the grid.

William Byron will start 21st, Ross Chastain 22nd, Christopher Bell 23rd, Shane van Gisbergen 25th, Chase Elliott 27th, and defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace back in 29th.

Austin Cindric, who enters this race holding the 16th and final spot in the Chase, qualified 35th, while In-Season Challenge finalist Todd Gilliland starts 36th as he faces Blaney for that $1 million prize.

Qualifying recap

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images

San Diego winner Heim set the early benchmark at 48.529s, with the part-time driver again impressing in that No. 67 23XI Racing entry. This is his first-ever NASCAR race (in any division) at the historic speedway.

McDowell had a sketchy lap and nearly wiggled up into the wall at the exit of Turn 3, but it was still enough to dethrone Heim for the top spot. He did not stay there for long, as 23XI fought back with Reddick surging to the top of the speed charts.

Later in the session, Hocevar rocketed to the top, over a tenth clear of Reddick. Spire teammate Suarez was just 0.056s off the pole lap. Blaney had a pole lap going until a big lift in Turn 3. Gibbs had a similar shot, but had to lift at the exit of Turn 2 and lost his advantage down the backstretch.

Chase Elliott touched the wall between Turns 3 and 4, but other than that, there were no real incidents to report from the qualifying session.

2026 Brickyard 400 complete starting lineup

Grid

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Time	Mph
1	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	48.232	186.598
2	D. Suarez Spire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	+0.056 48.288	186.382
3	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45		Toyota	+0.135 48.367	186.077
4	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	+0.164 48.396	185.966
5	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	+0.198 48.430	185.835
6	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	+0.217 48.449	185.762
7	C. Heim 23XI Racing	67		Toyota	+0.297 48.529	185.456
8	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	+0.320 48.552	185.368
9	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	+0.326 48.558	185.345
10	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	+0.334 48.566	185.315
11	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	+0.346 48.578	185.269
12	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41		Chevrolet	+0.347 48.579	185.265
13	R. Blaney Team Penske	12		Ford	+0.365 48.597	185.197
14	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	+0.401 48.633	185.060
15	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17		Ford	+0.419 48.651	184.991
16	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6		Ford	+0.444 48.676	184.896
17	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	+0.449 48.681	184.877
18	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35		Toyota	+0.474 48.706	184.782
19	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	+0.496 48.728	184.699
20	J. Logano Team Penske	22		Ford	+0.496 48.728	184.699
21	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	+0.529 48.761	184.574
22	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	+0.538 48.770	184.540
23	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	+0.605 48.837	184.287
24	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47		Chevrolet	+0.616 48.848	184.245
25	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	97		Chevrolet	+0.618 48.850	184.237
26	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	+0.647 48.879	184.128
27	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	+0.711 48.943	183.887
28	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10		Chevrolet	+0.716 48.948	183.869
29	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23		Toyota	+0.718 48.950	183.861
30	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38		Ford	+0.816 49.048	183.494
31	C. Zilisch TrackHouse Racing	88		Chevrolet	+0.913 49.145	183.132
32	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	33		Chevrolet	+0.926 49.158	183.083
33	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4		Ford	+0.951 49.183	182.990
34	R. Preece RFK Racing	60		Ford	+1.006 49.238	182.786
35	A. Cindric Team Penske	2		Ford	+1.022 49.254	182.726
36	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34		Ford	+1.094 49.326	182.460
37	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51		Chevrolet	+1.199 49.431	182.072
38	C. Mears Beard Motorsports	62		Chevrolet	+1.901 50.133	179.522
39	D. Dye Live Fast Motorsports	78		Chevrolet	+2.058 50.290	178.962
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