2026 Texas Motor Speedway pit stall assignments

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series, O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series drivers will pit this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: How to watch NASCAR on FOX

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Staff Report

Texas Motor Speedway has had its fair share of ever-changing variables over the years, and with nine winners in the last nine races there, more unpredictability could be in store for the NASCAR Cup Series when drivers tackle the 1.5-mile track on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won three of the last five Texas races — Kyle Larson in 2021, William Byron in 2023 and Chase Elliott in 2024 — but Team Penske enters Sunday as the team with the defending winner, with Joey Logano taking the 2025 honors.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Saturday recap

Will a powerhouse organization find Victory Lane at the facility once again, or will a wild card emerge to tame the Lone Star State? View the full projected results, courtesy of Racing Insights, for the 267-lap contest.

DRIVERS TO WATCH

JOEY LOGANO: The defending Texas winner gets a nod here for obvious reasons. But it’s worth noting that the No. 22 Team Penske Ford driver has had an up-and-down stretch as of late. Logano’s last five races have included two top 10s and three finishes of 30th or worse. That said, Texas has been kind to the three-time Cup Series champion at times, with Logano tallying two wins, 13 top fives and 16 top 10s in 30 Texas starts.

CARSON HOCEVAR: Coming off his first career Cup Series triumph at Talladega Superspeedway, the 23-year-old now heads to a track where he started on the pole last season — and he did it again Saturday. While the No. 77 Spire Motorsports driver has a best finish of 24th here, momentum is at an all-time high, even banking a win in Friday night’s Truck Series race. Hocevar collected a top-15 finish at Kansas last month, another 1.5-mile facility that could signal better things to come at these venues for the blossoming star.

TY GIBBS: Though a 34th-place result at Talladega snapped a seven-race top-10 streak, Gibbs’ 2026 has been a breakout, with the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing driver earning his first career Cup win at Bristol Motor Speedway in April. In four Texas Cup starts, Gibbs’ best finish is 13th (2024). That said, two of his six top 10s on 1.5-mile tracks have come this season. Similar to Hocevar, momentum could be the young star’s biggest ally.

MORE: At-track photos

FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR WÜRTH 400 PRESENTED BY LIQUI MOLY (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1)

FINISH	CAR NUMBER	DRIVER
1	5	Kyle Larson
2	45	Tyler Reddick
3	11	Denny Hamlin
4	9	Chase Elliott
5	24	William Byron
6	20	Christopher Bell
7	17	Chris Buescher
8	19	Chase Briscoe
9	77	Carson Hocevar
10	54	Ty Gibbs
11	12	Ryan Blaney
12	6	Brad Keselowski
13	22	Joey Logano
14	7	Daniel Suárez
15	2	Austin Cindric
16	60	Ryan Preece
17	23	Bubba Wallace
18	1	Ross Chastain
19	8	Kyle Busch
20	43	Erik Jones
21	48	Alex Bowman
22	71	Michael McDowell
23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24	35	Riley Herbst
25	3	Austin Dillon
26	16	AJ Allmendinger
27	38	Zane Smith
28	4	Noah Gragson
29	21	Josh Berry
30	97	Shane van Gisbergen
31	67	Corey Heim
32	42	John Hunter Nemechek
33	34	Todd Gilliland
34	10	Ty Dillon
35	41	Cole Custer
36	88	Connor Zilisch
37	51	Cody Ware
38	66	Chad Finchum

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Staff Report

MONTEREY, Calif. – Alex Zanardi competed in only one IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, but the charismatic Italian left an impression on nearly everyone in the IMSA paddock.

Zanardi, who died at the age of 59 Friday, May 1, earned his respect and reputation by winning 15 races and two CART-sanctioned IndyCar championships in a three-year period from 1996-98. He dominated the ’97 and ’98 seasons in swashbuckling style and created the memorable tradition of celebrating race wins by spinning smoky donuts in the iconic Target-sponsored Reynard/Hondas fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Zanardi lost his legs in a CART race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in 2001 just four days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Twenty months later in May 2003, he made an emotional return to the Lausitzring and drove 13 laps at speed in a Reynard Indy car fitted with hand controls to “finish the race.” The experience inspired Zanardi to return to auto racing full-time, where driving for BMW, he scored four sports car wins in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005-09.

MORE: Full IMSA coverage

He then took on the new challenge of hand cycling and won his division in the 2011 New York Marathon before earning four gold and two silver medals in the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games. His final car race came at IMSA’s 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona, where he shared a BMW M8 GTE with Jesse Krohn, John Edwards and Chaz Mostert at the Daytona International Speedway.

Alex’s resilience was put to the ultimate test when he suffered a devastating hand bike crash in Italy in June 2020 that put him in an induced coma and led to his withdrawal from public life. He passed away peacefully at home the evening of May 1, in the company of his wife Daniella and son Niccolo.

Zanardi’s legend was sparked by “The Pass” at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on September 8, 1996, when he made an audacious last-lap move on Bryan Herta in the famous Corkscrew. He overcooked the entry, slid through the dirt, yet somehow maintained control and emerged ahead for the win.

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

Herta and Zanardi’s Ganassi Racing teammate, Jimmy Vasser, are both at Laguna Seca this weekend, as the owner of teams that compete in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and the WeatherTech Championship.

Herta, who fields four Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars, including the pole-sitting entry for the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120, wrote on social media: “Respect and love Alex. For millions you were an inspiration and a doer of the impossible. My last and best memory is of us at Daytona Rolex, I appreciate your kindness for Colton (Herta) and everything you accomplished. Godspeed!”

Herta’s son Colton was a teammate to Zanardi with BMW M Team RLL in the 2019 Rolex 24; Colton was part of the winning GT Le Mans class entry with current BMW WeatherTech Championship drivers Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng and veteran Augusto Farfus.

Vasser, meanwhile, was a key part of Ganassi’s first era of open-wheel brilliance with Zanardi and is celebrating 30 years since his own Long Beach race win and the 1996 championship, achieved here in Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 won the most recent WeatherTech Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) race at Long Beach.

“In 1998, we went 1-2 in the championship, and that for me, is the greatest year in my racing career as a driver, for sure,” Vasser said. “And Alex and I, over the course of the three years that we raced together, developed one of the best friendships of a lifetime. We had the most fun. It was competitive, but truly, I was happy for him when he did well and won, and I felt the same from him to me when I did well. He was truly happy for me.

“He was one of one.”

IMSA President John Doonan also paid tribute to Zanardi.

“He will forever be known for his accomplishments, not just on the race track, but as a one-of-a-kind and genuine personality,” Doonan stated. “From unforgettable moments on race tracks all over the world – including his last-lap pass for victory in The Corkscrew right here at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where we are racing this weekend – to his remarkable achievements as a Paralympic gold-medal winner and IRONMAN record holder, Alex was an inspiration and exemplified the epitome of perseverance to anyone who had the good fortune to encounter him or learn his story.

“Having him join us for the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona as a competitor remains a cherished memory for our IMSA community and everybody who attended or viewed that event,” Doonan added. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his teammates, and his many friends all over the world.”

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Reid Spencer

Perhaps the most telling statistic relative to the difficulty of Texas Motor Speedway is the active streak of top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track.

Daniel Suárez leads the category with three straight top 10s. Austin Dillon has two. No other NASCAR Cup Series driver has more than one.

RELATED: Texas starting lineup | At-track photos

“That’s not very long,” Suarez said with a laugh. “We’ll take the small victories, right? It’s just very tricky. It doesn’t take a lot for you to crash or get out of the groove. I love it, though. I think it’s a great race track.

“I would say that five, eight years ago, more drivers used to hate this track, but right now, the race track is getting to a point where it’s not a brand new race track anymore. It’s tough. There are some bumps. It’s getting some wear. So, it’s a lot of fun.”

The consensus among Cup drivers is that passing is difficult at Texas because of the narrow nature of the racing line. Suarez doesn’t see it that way.

“I think it’s already to the point where we have two-and-a-half lanes in (Turns) 1 and 2 and maybe two or two-and-a-quarter lanes in 3 and 4,” Suarez said. “I think it’s getting wider every single year, so that’s positive.”

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Reid Spencer

To say Texan Chris Buescher has been snakebit in his home state is putting it mildly.

In 16 starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Buescher has never scored a top 10. He has led just two of the 5,006 laps he has run at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway. His average finish is 21.9.

RELATED: Texas weekend schedule | At-track photos

Nevertheless, Buescher frequently has shown speed at Texas, and he’s looking for a breakthrough in Sunday’s Wurth 400 Presented by Liqui Moly (3:30 p.m. ET FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“We’ve had more tire failures here than any other race track,” Buescher said. “Early on, we came here and had speed, but we were still understanding the new (Gen 7) car, the sensitivities to having tire blowouts.

“We’ve had days here when we’ve been pretty good, and it’s started drizzling — the great fog from five or six years ago, right? Unfortunately, I was the one who found the moisture that ended the race for three days before we got back going …

“You go through the years here, and I feel like we’ve had very few days here where we haven’t been competitive, but, man, the stats don’t show that. I hope we fix that this go-round — I think we can.”

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Reid Spencer

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).

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

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Dustin Albino

FORT WORTH, Texas – When thinking about which drivers could be next in line to snag a Bill France Cup on their resumes, you don’t need to go far down the list to point out Christopher Bell and William Byron. But this year – the return of The Chase – could tell a different story.

The pair of perennial championship threats, who both made multiple Championship 4 appearances in the last four seasons, are off to sluggish starts in 2026. Between the one-third mark of the 2023 season through the duration of 2025, Byron spent 97 consecutive weeks inside the top 10 in points, including 47 weeks leading the series. He never dropped below third last year. Meanwhile, Bell, the always consistent Joe Gibbs Racing driver, has cracked the top five in the championship standings in each of the last four years.

Through 10 races in 2026, Bell has slipped to ninth in the regular-season championship standings. Meanwhile, Byron, who had a dreadful April, with a pair of finishes of 30th or worse, has plummeted to 11th. After the conclusion of five races, the No. 24 team has been outside the top 10 in points.

RELATED: Texas weekend schedule | At-track photos

“We just got to get going,” Byron said on Saturday morning at Texas Motor Speedway. “We’ve got to get to a normal style race track and reset from some of the weeks that we’ve had.”

Upon a 35th-place early exit at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend, Byron checked the point standings and had an honest conversation with himself. But between a putrid performance with a steering problem at Bristol Motor Speedway and being in the eye of the storm last weekend at the 2.66-mile oval, he tallied a mere nine points total in two of the last three events.

“It was a bit of a shock coming out of Talladega seeing how far we had fallen in the points,” Byron stated. “Two out of three weeks, not a lot of points. Just have to reset.

“When you look at The Chase format, it sets up well if you can be in the top 10, really. Look at how many points you can gain or lose in 10 weeks. It’s about trying to get to that part of the season, but you’ve got to get there by being competitive. Just being able to have weeks where we can be a contending car and that’s going to give us confidence that we can gain points.”

The performance of the No. 20 team has been strong in 2026, leading 303 laps, third-best in Cup. The finishes tell a different story, however, with a 40% top-10 percentage.

The last two weekends, specifically, have been gut-wrenching. He was well positioned for a top-five finish in overtime at Kansas before contact with eventual race winner Tyler Reddick on the penultimate lap cut a tire, dropping him to 20th in the finishing order. He followed that up at Talladega by contending for a top 10 and was in the middle of a multi-car incident yards away from the finish, crediting him with a 17th-place finish.

MORE: Cup Series standings

“It’s so painful,” Bell said of his late-race madness the last two weeks. “I don’t know that I’ve had a stretch like that where – they always say, ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,’ but jeez.

“I feel optimistic that it’s going to turn around at some point.”

Like Byron, Bell has noticed himself glancing at the points more frequently in 2026. And even though he’s ninth in the standings, the No. 20 team ranks less than a full race – 54 points – behind third-place Ryan Blaney. Any shot at catching Tyler Reddick, who has a 110-point buffer over second place alone, he believes, is out of the question.

“It’s a bummer where we’re at,” Bell noted. “On the positive side, we’ve gotten terrible finishes and are within striking distance – not of the Regular Season Championship – but hopefully of the big picture, full-season championship, we are still in position.”

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Dustin Albino

FORT WORTH, Texas – Midway through Group 1 practice for Sunday’s Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly at Texas Motor Speedway, Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota snapped around through Turns 1 and 2 quicker than he realized. The result is 23XI Racing unloading the backup car for race day.

“It just came around out of nowhere and surprised me,” Wallace told reporters after the incident. “I knew I was loose in the moment, went to correct it and it was too late. Hate it. Thought we had some decent speed. Just a long Saturday that’s going to make for a good Sunday.”

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos: Texas

Wallace ranked fifth in single-lap speed before the crash. The No. 23 car dipped to 18th on 10- and 15-lap averages.

Among the hurdles to overcome on Sunday will be poor pit-stall selection and the need to find track position at a venue where it’s paramount. There is optimism, however, as six of the top 10 in last year’s Texas race’s finishing order started 24th or worse, including all three podium finishers.

“Looking at the positives of the day, erase the negatives and go drive hard tomorrow,” Wallace said of his outlook come the green flag. “Just need to execute all day tomorrow. We’re starting at the back, no good pit stall. The odds are against us, so we will see how mentally tough we are.”

The unique characteristics of Texas make it unforgiving. With how treacherous the 1.5-mile oval can be, Wallace knows he will need to pick his way through the field carefully to avoid another disappointing finish.

“You just have to be smart about it,” he added. “Coming here a handful of times, you know where to be, putting yourself in the right spot to capitalize on and we’ll be OK.”

Entering Texas, Wallace has three finishes of 34th or worse in the last five races, including a pair of DNFs. He vowed not to make the same mistake twice this weekend.

Wallace concluded, “I haven’t crashed in practice in quite some time. The positive of that is, I pushed the limits, found the limit and it won’t happen again.”

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Dustin Albino

FORT WORTH, Texas — The voices in Kyle Busch’s head have changed frequently over the years. One is back for more as Richard Childress Racing attempts to right the No. 8 team.

Hours after scoring RCR’s first top-10 finish of the 2026 season last Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, Jim Pohlman was relieved of his duties as crew chief of the No. 8 car. The organization announced Monday that Andy Street will replace Pohlman as crew chief effective immediately, while Pohlman moves to a leadership role in the competition department.

RELATED: Texas schedule | At-track photos: Texas

Pohlman’s jump from JR Motorsports’ O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program to the Cup Series pit box lasted only 10 races, with Busch and the No. 8 team ranked a dismal 27th in Cup Series points.

“I think the writing is in the points standings,” Busch said in a cheerful mood after finishing runner-up in Friday evening’s Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. “We’re not where we need to be. There’s got to be a change somewhere. From my understanding, I feel like the conversation with Jim was well received and he was fine with it.”

Austin Dillon revealed earlier Friday that Busch led a positive meeting with the entire RCR shop floor shortly after the news broke. In steps Street, who worked with the two-time Cup champion for the final five events of the 2025 campaign.

“I thanked Jim for his leadership and for him being there and being a part of the team and what he did for the time,” Busch said of the town hall meeting. “I’m full in; I’m all committed. I’ve never probably worked as much in these last four years as I did in 15 at JGR. That’s due to us needing to get better and us getting the things heading in the right direction.

“We’ve got to put the train back on the tracks and have a direction of what we need to do in order to be able to go forward. Just reiterating all of that and giving them the vote of confidence that we’re all in this together and we’re digging in.”

Street takes over a No. 8 program that sits 66 points below The Chase cutline with 16 races remaining. Since the start of 2025, he has been on the Cup side at RCR, spending the previous handful of seasons as a crew chief for the company’s O’Reilly program. He has called the shots for the team’s part-time No. 33 entry in seven races last year, and another four this season.

Dillon believes Street was the best choice to replace Pohlman.

“I think [Street has] shown that his ability to work with Kyle at the end of the year last year and have some solid runs,” Dillon said. “I think that’s what the obvious move was to make. I think it should be a positive tone for that team. What I like to see is when that team’s in there with us after practice and we’re all in there trying to move the needle forward.”

Having that prior experience with Street – which included a pair of top-10 finishes and a fifth-place effort in the 2025 season finale at Phoenix Raceway – could pay dividends. Busch knows what to expect and it’s someone that is fairly straightforward in their approach.

“Andy and I, we conversate a lot and did a lot last year,” Busch said. “I feel like he’s (got) a simpler mentality about how he goes about looking at things. It has to make sense to him for him to be able to believe it and he doesn’t just believe in what the computer tells him. I feel like that’s a good way of being back to basics and a little bit more methodical about race cars.”

MORE: Letarte, McMurray analyze the swap

Busch also knows that the immediate fix isn’t switching crew chiefs. But it could be the first of multiple steps to get the No. 8 team back towards the front of the pack.

“[Do] we come to Texas and flip everything around and run top 10 right here, right now? Not sure about that,” Busch said. “We certainly have done all of our due diligence this week in trying to be as prepared as we best know how.”

Going the first nine races without cracking the top 10 was the longest stretch Busch has ever gone into a season without banking a top 10. He holds an average finish of 22.1, more than four positions worse from 2025. It’s on pace to be the worst year of his career in many of the major statistical categories.

However, Busch isn’t throwing in the towel. This move is the exact opposite of that. Add that the 63-time Cup winner is in a contract year and know that he has a lot left to prove.

“I feel like we’re in this together anyways,” Busch stated. “I love Richard (Childress, team owner). I feel like we’ve worked really well together. Austin has been a phenomenal teammate that I’ve been able to work with. I feel like he’s one of the best that I’ve had. It’s been a joyful time working with him. It’s just the results aren’t there. We’ve got to line that up and try to be better in order to get those.”

Dillon confirmed that Pohlman will remain in the organization, though RCR hasn’t listed his title. Ultimately, it’s going to be a swap from positions with Street.

Posted on May 1, 2026May 2, 2026 by Reid Spencer

FORT WORTH, Texas — The glass slipper still firmly on his foot from last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega, Carson Hocevar mashed the gas in overtime on Friday night and ran away to victory in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Beating runner-up and Spire Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line by 0.730 seconds in overtime, Hocevar notched his sixth career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory, this one coming at the 1.5-mile intermediate track that gave him his first in the series in 2023.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Texas

The triumph reversed a 1-2 finish from earlier this season at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, where Busch beat Hocevar to the stripe by 0.114 seconds.

“It’s unbelievable — what a fun race,” Hocevar said after climbing from his No. 77 Chevrolet on the frontstretch. “We had to reverse the order, obviously the 1-2 with Kyle. I watched him win a lot of truck races, and it’s finally good to put an end to his Texas streak.”

Busch had won his last four Truck Series starts at Texas, but an early brush with the outside wall forced him to regain a lost lap as the beneficiary under caution for Cole Butcher’s crash in Turn 2 on Lap 51.

Busch fought through the field and challenged for the lead in the late going but failed to add to his record 68 Truck Series wins.

“We had an eventful night,” Busch said. “We didn’t start off very well. We were really, really loose and made a lot of adjustments to get it close. When we put the last set off tires on, we were really fast, felt really good.

“I was struggling with grip all night long, but (crew chief) Brian (Pattie) and the guys made a lot of good calls to get us dialed back in. It would have been nice to be in Victory Lane, but it’s good to have a teammate in there and have him get his shot. I got one, he got one, so now we’re even there.”

After the second stage break, Hocevar thought he might have a loose wheel, but that didn’t prevent him from going all-out during a succession of restarts late in the race.

Gio Ruggiero led the field to the overtime restart on Lap 171, but he lost impetus in the middle of a three-wide situation on the white-flag lap, as Hocevar charged into the lead and opened a gap of 10 car-lengths.

Kaden Honeycutt finished third, right behind Busch’s Silverado, with Brandon Jones and pole winner Ben Rhodes in fourth and fifth, respectively, as Ruggiero fell to 14th. Layne Riggs, Christian Eckes, Daniel Hemric, Ty Majeski and Chandler Smith completed the top 10.

Though Honeycutt left with the series lead — by 14 points over Smith — he remained frustrated with his inability to close out a victory.

“I’m proud to be able to drive a truck like this,” said Honeycutt, who is winless in 66 Truck Series starts. “It’s disappointing that I just keep failing. There’s no excuse for it. As soon as I got the lead (on Lap 149), I didn’t protect it right. I didn’t do the right things and ultimately that’s what led us to lose.

“Just got to figure out how to get restarts done. I’ve got to figure out how to win races. It’s eating me alive, I can promise you that.”

Ruggiero likewise missed an opportunity. He had passed Hocevar for the lead on Lap 165 of a scheduled 167, but a violent, five-truck accident on the frontstretch caused the eighth caution, necessitated a red flag for cleanup and forced overtime.

Hocevar won the second stage and led a race-high 76 laps to 41 for Rhodes, who won the first stage wire-to-wire.

The Craftsman Truck Series returns to action next Friday at Watkins Glen International for the Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Inspection was completed in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Hocevar’s victory. The No. 34 truck of Layne Riggs had two lug nuts not safe and secure, and as a result, they will receive a $2,500 fine and a crew member will be suspended for one race.