Carson Hocevar scored the Busch Light Pole Award for the 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on Saturday, July 25.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-car, single-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots cycled around IMS once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the single fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
During the session, Hocevar, who was the seventh-fastest competitor during Friday’s practice session and was the 30th of 39 competitors to qualify, posted a single-lap qualifying run at 186.598 mph in 48.232 seconds. The lap was enough for the Portage, Michigan, native to maintain the top-starting spot and notch the biggest pole position of his career.
With the pole, Hocevar became the 22nd competitor to win the pole position for the Brickyard 400. He also notched the fourth NASCAR Cup Series career pole for both himself and Spire Motorsports and their first since Texas Motor Speedway in early May. The pole achievement brought both joy and enthusiasm for Hocevar and the Indiana fans as the latter group cheered once Hocevar raised both arms victoriously with the pole sealed.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Hocevar said. “I don’t know if [the fans]’re cheering just because I beat Denny [Hamlin] or just the fact that we’re on the front row, but I’m super pumped. Denny stole one from me from Michigan. This is hometown for [co-owner] Jeff [Dickerson] and everybody at Spire. It’s just fun to use our own notes for the last two years and get these cars better and faster and just enjoy it. These guys work really hard. It’s 200+ people in the shop at Spire Motorsports…they put so much in Indy. They put so much in this program, they put so much into Spire, so to be on the front row with Daniel and everybody, I’m just pumped. It’s so cool. I l just love this racetrack, I love Indy, and this crowd’s pretty awesome.”
Hocevar will share the front row with teammate Daniel Suarez, the latter of whom qualified with the second-fastest lap at 186.382 mph in 48.288 seconds and posted his first front row start for the Brickyard 400 for the first time ever. Ironically, Sunday’s Brickyard 400 will mark the second time this season that Spire Motorsports’ Hocevar and Suarez will start on the front row for a Cup event after both achieved a similar feat at Texas.
Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom was the last competitor to qualify, will start in the top five. Michael McDowell, Corey Heim, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively. Notably, Bubba Wallace, the reigning Brickyard 400 winner, will start in 29th place and Joey Logano, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at North Wilkesboro Speedway, qualified in 19th place.
With 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots, all made the main event.
Indianapolis – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Carson Hocevar, 186.598 mph, 48.232 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 186.382 mph, 48.288 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 186.077 mph, 48.367 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 185.966 mph, 49.396 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 185.835 mph, 48.430 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 185.762 mph, 48.449 seconds
- Corey Heim, 185.456 mph, 48.529 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 185.368 mph, 48.552 seconds
- AJ Allmendinger, 185.345 mph, 48.558 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 185.315 mph, 48.566 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 185.269 mph, 48.578 seconds
- Cole Custer, 185.265 mph, 48.579 seconds
- Ryan Blaney, 185.197 mph, 48.597 seconds
- Erik Jones, 185.060 mph, 48.633 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 184.991 mph, 48.651 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 184.896 mph, 48.676 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 184.877 mph, 48.681 seconds
- Riley Herbst, 184.782 mph, 48.706 seconds
- Joey Logano, 184.699 mph, 48.728 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 184.699 mph, 48.728 seconds
- William Byron, 184.574 mph, 48.761 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 184.540 mph, 48.770 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 184.287 mph, 48.837 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 184.245 mph, 48.848 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 184.237 mph, 48.850 seconds
- Josh Berry, 184.128 mph, 48.879 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 183.887 mph, 48.943 seconds
- Ty Dillon, 183.869 mph, 48.948 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 183.861 mph, 48.950 seconds
- Zane Smith, 183.494 mph, 49.048 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 183.132 mph, 49.145 seconds
- Austin Hill, 183.083 mph, 49.158 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 182.990 mph, 49.183 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 182.786 mph, 49.238 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 182.726 mph, 49.254 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 182.726 mph, 49.254 seconds
- Cody Ware, 182.072 mph, 49.431 seconds
- Casey Mears, 179.522 mph, 50.133 seconds
- Daniel Dye, 178.962 mph, 50.290 seconds
The 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 26, at 2 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
