TALLADEGA, Ala. — Fitting for his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, Carson Hocevar turned in an ultra-original victory celebration sitting on the window ledge of his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet while driving around the massive 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, soaking up the emotions that will forever define and reward his first victory lap.
The huge crowd loved the unique celebration, and the 23-year-old Michigan native deservedly soaked it all in after earning a 0.114-second victory over RFK Racing veteran Chris Buescher in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at the iconic Talladega track, completing a solid, no-holds-barred three-lap run to the checkered flag for his first trophy in NASCAR’s premier series.
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It marks the second time in the last three races a driver earned his first career victory, matching the work of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“I’ve had this thought up for a while,” Hocevar said of his winning salute. “And I’ve messed it up every which way to not be able to do it. And I don’t care if I took me 20 minutes or whatever I was going to figure out how to do it.
“I’m just so thankful,” he said, the grandstand crowd roaring in approval. “This is the biggest dream I’ve ever thought of. Thank you, everybody. I couldn’t have done it any better way. Hopefully, my grandfather is watching. My grandmother died last year, and I’m just so thankful I can give my grandfather a trophy now. Just unbelievable, I’m just so thankful. I knew we were going to win. I really did.”
Over the three years he’s competed full-time in the Cup Series, Hocevar has taken some criticism for his bold — at times imprudent — driving style. But on Sunday, Hocevar proved his mettle in the big leagues leading 19 of the final 37 laps in the 188-lap classic and holding the field off on three late race restarts.
“He deserved it for sure, and this is a perfect place for him to get it,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman, who finished third, said of Hocevar.
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Said the runner-up Buescher, who also scored his career-best finish at Talladega: “That was a fun race all the way until the end. Man, it was close. … awesome day and it was a good race.”
Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, a two-time Talladega winner, finished fourth in the No. 9 Chevrolet with Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith rallying to an impressive fifth-place finish in the No. 38 Ford, also setting the fastest lap of the race.
Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr., another former Talladega winner, finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Front Row’s Noah Gragson and two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, whose 10th-place showing Sunday was the first top 10 of the season for the venerable Richard Childress Racing team.
There were 16 leaders and 51 lead changes on the day, with JGR’s Christopher Bell leading a race-high 31 laps despite finishing 17th. RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece and Ross Chastain were the race’s two stage winners.
Half the field — literally — was eliminated from legitimate winning contention in a wild 26-car melee in Turn 3 on Lap 115 that included championship leader Tyler Reddick among the two dozen collected. And it all started up front.
Contact between the front cars of leader Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain triggered the chain reaction incident and brought out a 10-minute red flag stoppage. A handful of those involved — including 23XI Racing’s Wallace and fellow past Talladega winners and Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano — were no longer able to continue, but a sizable number of those involved were able to return to the track.
“Got wrecked there, unfortunately,” Wallace offered in an understatement after leading three times on the day. “Our Xfinity Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars. “Got to debrief, got to be better. Just kind of riding around, not doing much in the first stage — nothing to show for it at Talladega. Unfortunate, it is a place we come to with a lot of confidence, and it is what it is. We will put this one behind us and go on to Texas and have some fun.”
Blaney was equally as frustrated, but like so many of those caught up in the incident, also philosophical about the close-quarter brand of speedway racing that has so often produced NASCAR’s version of the “Big One.”
“I feel like we all just got pinballing off each other there,” Blaney said. “It’s not like there’s any blame on anybody. It’s what this thing is. We see each other. We all just kind of get bumping and banging, and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is. It definitely stinks to be out early.”
A five-time race winner this season, Reddick was also among those whose cars suffered damage in the massive mid-race incident. Hoping to win his fifth race from pole position this season, instead, the Californian had to recover from damage in both the big accidents and then again after his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota clipped the wall with 27 to go.
He stayed on the lead lap and managed a 14th-place finish in the 40-car field and maintains a commanding lead atop the Cup Series championship standings, 110 points over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin — one of Reddick’s 23XI Racing team owners.
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The caution waved for the final time at Lap 182 when Erik Jones spun from third place exiting Turn 4. Contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to Hocevar sent Hocevar left into Jones, whose No. 43 Toyota spun multiple times through pit entry before getting stuck in the infield grass, necessitating the yellow flag.
The Cup Series moves west for its annual stop at Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Joey Logano is the defending race winner.
Stage 2 recap
Ross Chastain held on to win Stage 2 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway after a segment dotted by incidents.
Chastain won the frame over Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Zane Smith at Lap 143.
Intense racing at the beginning of Stage 2 led to the “Big One” at Lap 115 of Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500.
An errant push from Chastain to then-leader Bubba Wallace sent Wallace’s car sideways in front of the field, creating calamity at the end of the backstretch that collected 26 vehicles. Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Kyle Busch were all among the drivers involved in the first major incident of the event.
A mix of fuel strategies led some drivers to go all out, while others attempted to save fuel to reach the end of Stage 2. Drivers were racing three- and four-wide when chaos ensued, leading to race-car carnage.
The race resumed at Lap 121 with Chastain and Christopher Bell leading the way with 20 cars on the lead lap.
The caution waved for the third time in Sunday’s race at Lap 124 when Gibbs crashed for the second time. His No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota cut a right-front tire due to damage from the multicar crash nine laps earlier exiting Turn 4. His vehicle veered up the race track and into the SAFER barrier in front of Michael McDowell, who also incurred damage in the incident.
Stage 1 recap
Ryan Preece won a hectic Stage 1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Preece crossed the start/finish line ahead of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland and Ross Chastain as Fords collected eight of the top 10 positions in the opening 98-lap stage.
Reddick, who started from the pole position, raced down pit road before it opened under the stage break and was forced to restart from the rear of the field to begin Stage 2. Additional trouble came to Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe as the trio was all trapped one lap down.
The extended first stage resulted in a mixed bag of strategies. The top nine drivers were able to complete the 98-lap stage by making just one pit stop, while the rest of the field pitted at least twice.
The first round of pit stops in Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway resulted in multiple penalties for contending drivers.
Denny Hamlin led the first multicar group to pit road on Lap 41 of the 98-lap first stage in the Jack Link’s 500 as eight cars peeled to pit road. However, Hamlin was too fast entering pit road and had to serve a pass-through penalty for his mistake. Chase Briscoe, the series’ most recent Talladega winner and Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, was also penalized for a safety violation during his Lap 41 pit stop for contacting a crewman and sliding through his pit stall. Briscoe fell off the lead lap after serving his pass-through penalty.
The next major group of cars didn’t hit pit road until Lap 45, when multiple Chevrolets led the way, and Lap 47, when a Ford-heavy pack hit pit lane. Team Penske driver Austin Cindric missed his pit stall on Lap 47 and was forced to come back to the pits on the next lap with polesitter Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suárez and Riley Herbst.
Herbst, Chad Finchum and Daniel Dye were all penalized for speeding during their respective trips to pit road. Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, was penalized for an uncontrolled tire by his pit crew.
Herbst was penalized twice more before the end of Stage 1 — once for speeding on his second trip to pit road at Lap 81 and again at Lap 95 for passing below the yellow line, which is out of bounds at Talladega.
After starting 38th, Finchum stormed to the front of the field to lead his first laps in the Cup Series on Lap 10. His No. 66 Ford took the lead on Lap 10 and paced the field for eight laps before pulling aside to let Denny Hamlin retake the lead, allowing Finchum to save fuel once again.
Reddick, who announced a multiyear contract extension with 23XI Racing before Sunday’s race, reported a potential power issue before Lap 30 in his No. 45 Toyota. Reddick started on pole after qualifying was rained out Saturday and was running 39th when he radioed his concerns.
NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue in the NASCAR Cup Series garage. The Nos. 8 & 38 cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.
Contributing: Staff report