Carson Hocevar earns 1st NASCAR Cup
victory with last-lap pass at Talladega Superspeedway
[April 27, 2026]
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Carson Hocevar ensured the Talladega
Superspeedway fans who witnessed his first NASCAR Cup Series win
would remember it.
After outdueling Chris Buescher with a last-lap pass Sunday, Hocevar
celebrated with one of NASCAR’s most unconventional victory laps.
While sitting on the windowsill of his No. 77 Chevrolet to salute
the crowd with fist pumps and waves, the lanky Hocevar managed to
keep his left hand on the wheel while driving down the frontstretch.
He steered the car nose-first into the outside wall to perform a
burnout before climbing onto the roof.
“He looked like Shamu hanging out the window,” said Jeff Dickerson,
a co-owner of Hocevar's Spire Motorsports car.
The unique revelry was appropriate for the rising star who has made
headlines by angering veterans with aggressive moves.
“I’ve had this thought up for a while,” Hoecvar said after becoming
the 13th driver to earn his first Cup win at Talladega. “I’ve messed
it up every which way to not be able to do it. I was going to figure
out how to do it. It took me a while.
“I’m so thankful. This is the biggest dream I’ve ever thought of.
Thank you, everybody. I couldn’t have done it any better way.”
Hocevar joined Ty Gibbs ( who won two weeks ago at Bristol Motor
Speedway ), as the second first-time winner this season by winning
his 91st start in NASCAR’s premier series.
The 23-year-old from Portage, Michigan, used a drafting push from
Alex Bowman's No. 48 Chevrolet to edge past Buescher’s No. 17 Ford
by 0.114 seconds.
Buescher had been getting drafting help from Erik Jones, who spun
after contact from Hocevar while battling for second with seven laps
remaining. Jones’ No. 43 Toyota stalled to bring out the final
yellow and set up a three-lap shootout in which Buescher and Hocevar
ran side by side virtually all the way to the checkered flag.
“That was a fun race,” Buescher said. “I felt really good where we
were at coming off Turn 4. Felt like we were in a spot to take this
Ford Mustang into victory lane. Man, it was close."
Bowman finished third (his best finish since missing four races with
vertigo ), followed by Chase Elliott and Zane Smith.
“To be blunt, it just feels good to get out of here without
crashing,” Bowman said. “I’m getting old and don’t have much of that
left in me. Glad to get out of here clean.”
Big wreck
With tight packs at nearly 200 mph, Talladega is known for massive
wrecks, and some contact at the front involved 26 of the 40 cars in
the field.
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Carson Hocevar is presented a wreath from Miss Alabama Hailey Adams
after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, April 26, 2026,
in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Bubba Wallace was leading on Lap 115 when he lost
control of his No. 23 Toyota on a push by the No. 1 Chevrolet of
Ross Chastain. Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle
Larson were among those eliminated from contention in the crash,
along with Wallace, who finished outside the top 30 for the third
time in five races.
“It’s a bummer,” said the 23XI Racing driver, who was making his
300th Cup start. “But we’ve got to figure out how to be pushed
better, so I take responsibility on that. And we’ll have a good
debrief and figure out what we can do to make our Toyotas a little
bit better at being pushed and maybe not have that happen.”
Mileage still matters
In an attempt to blunt the fuel conservation strategies that have
become prevalent at superspeedways, NASCAR instituted a 98-lap first
stage that covered more than half the race distance (which is
typically the length of the final stage). The change resulted in an
opening segment that ran for 85 minutes under green as drivers
cautiously raced well below their maximum speeds to achieve optimum
mileage.
They opened the second stage at full throttle, and the big pileup
erupted only 10 laps later.
“It’s frustrating,” Logano said. “What do you want? Save fuel or
crash? Pick one. That’s what it feels like right now. You’ve got
round bumpers on these things. The cars are unstable. And once
everyone starts pushing and racing aggressive, it’s going to happen.
So until we fix that stuff, we’re going to continue seeing it,
unfortunately.”
New deal
Points leader Tyler Reddick announced on the Fox prerace show that
he had finalized a multiyear contract extension with 23XI Racing.
Team co-owner Denny Hamlin recently had guaranteed the return of
Reddick, who has 10 of his 13 career wins (including five this
season) since joining 23XI Racing in 2023.
“Excited to have it all done and be able to continue building on
what we’ve done,” Reddick said. “Just really glad that myself and
23XI were able to get to a good place and get the deal done. So I’ll
be here for hopefully a long time.”
Up next
The NASCAR Cup Series will race May 3 at Texas Motor Speedway, the
lone stop this season at the 1.5-mile oval near Fort Worth. Joey
Logano won at Texas last year, the most recent Cup victory for the
three-time series champion.
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