FORT WORTH, Texas – In a manner of speaking, Carson Hocevar called his shot at Texas Motor Speedway – and wound up on the pole for Sunday’s Würth 400 Presented by Liqui Moly (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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Before Saturday’s time trials at the 1.5-mile track, Hocevar said he hoped to capitalize on his last-in-the-order qualifying position – a benefit of his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday.
“Hopefully we can roll out last and take advantage of it,” Hocevar said. “Start up front, which is super-important here. Pit stops are going to be important. Get a good pit selection and really keep the momentum rolling.”
It took a monumental lap for Hocevar to achieve that objective. Streaking around the speedway in 25.222 seconds (191.240 mph), he edged Spire Motorsports teammate Daniel Suárez (191.320 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.003 seconds.
The Busch Light Pole Award was the second of Hocevar’s career, with the first coming at Texas a year ago.
“Maybe going to (sponsor) Chili’s last night, it weighed the car down just a little bit more, and I had a little more left-side weight,” joked Hocevar, who also won Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at TMS. “I don’t know where those three thousandths (of a second) are, but I’m glad I had ’em in the bank.
“My lap felt pretty good. It wasn’t quite key it up on the radio and (say)… ‘If they beat that, they can have it,’ and they don’t get beat. It wasn’t quite doing that, but I was coming off Turn 4, and I was like, ‘If this isn’t fast, I’m going to be disappointed.’ It felt good.”
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher qualified third at 190.981 mph in the only Ford that cracked the top 10. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe tied for fourth at 190.786 mph, with Hamlin getting the nod for the higher starting spot on an owner points tiebreaker.
Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, series leader Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs completed the top 10 on the grid. Defending Cup champion Kyle Larson will start 11th. Busch, in his first race with new crew chief Andy Street, notched his best qualifying effort since winning the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500.
Byron lands fastest lap in Texas practice
William Byron topped the charts in Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway, guiding the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a 189.294-mph lap.
Byron was also fastest in the consecutive 10-lap average category. Michael McDowell was second-fastest in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevy at 188.508 mph. Rookie Corey Heim posted the third-fastest lap, with John Hunter Nemechek and Bubba Wallace completing the top five.
MORE: Practice results | Weekend schedule: Texas
Wallace’s time came before his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota crashed during the waning moments of the first of two groups. He was unable to post a qualifying lap and will start at the rear of the 38-car field in Sunday’s 400-miler.
“It was on edge, just like Texas is,” Wallace said of the accident. “Just trying to find the right balance for us and our team. So it was going to be a good debrief to figure out if we can get some more speed, but just have to rely on our teammates and go get it (Sunday). This is a very unforgiving place. So like I said, it (the No. 23 Camry) was around before I even knew it.”
Austin Dillon also didn’t make a qualifying attempt after his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet slowed with engine trouble, completing just three laps.
The second group was also interrupted when Daniel Suárez’s No. 7 Chevrolet stalled with a flat tire. Suárez backed up to pit road to the attention of his Spire Motorsports crew, and ended practice with the 10th-fastest time.
Contributing: Staff reports