TALLADEGA, Ala. — Carson Hocevar ensured the NASCAR fans who were at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday and witnessed the first win of his Cup Series career 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 Spire Motorsports No. 77 Chevrolet to salute the crowd with fist pumps and waves, the lanky 23-year-old managed to keep his left hand on the wheel while driving down the front stretch of the 2.66-mile track.
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 car.
The unique revelry was appropriate for the rising star from Michigan who has made headlines by angering veterans with aggressive moves.
“I’ve had this thought up for a while,” Hocevar said after becoming the 13th driver to earn his first Cup Series 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 (the 23-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver who won two weeks ago at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway), as the second first-time winner this season by finishing first in his 91st start on NASCAR’s top-tier series.
He used a drafting push from Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet to edge past Buescher’s RFK Racing No. 17 Ford by less than two-tenths of a second (0.114).
Buescher had been getting drafting help from Erik Jones, who spun after contact from Hocevar while battling for second place with seven laps remaining. Jones’ Legacy Motor Club No. 43 Toyota stalled to bring out the final yellow flag — there were six cautions for 30 laps — 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 four. 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 teammate Chase Elliott and Zane Smith in a Ford for Front Row Motorsports.
“To be blunt, it just feels good to get out of here without crashing,” the 33-year-old Bowman said. “I’m getting old and don’t have much of that left in me. Glad to get out of here clean.”
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.
Bubba Wallace was leading on the 115th lap when he lost control of his 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota on a push by Ross Chastain in the Trackhouse Racing No. 1 Chevy. Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and reigning Cup Series champion 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 Wallace, an Alabama native who was making his 300th start in Cup Series competition and got his breakthrough win at Talladega five years ago. “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.”
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,” said Logano, a three-time Cup Series champ who drives for Team Penske. “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.”
It was a tough day for Toyota, with the best finish for any of its drivers 14th by Tyler Reddick, one of Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammates and a winner in five of nine races this season coming into Sunday.
Reddick, the leader in the points standings, announced on the Fox telecast before the race that he had finalized a multiyear contract extension with 23XI. Team co-owner Denny Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, recently had guaranteed the return of Reddick, who has 10 of his 13 career wins (including five this season) since joining 23XI 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.”
The Cup Series races next Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, the lone stop this season at the 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, where Logano won last year for his most recent Cup Series victory.