Hocevar claims Texas Cup pole

Carson Hocevar is still the hottest thing in the NASCAR Cup Series, after claiming the pole for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hocevar won the pole with a lap of 191.340 mph (28.222s). It is his second career pole. He will lead the field to the green flag a week after winning his first Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I think it establishes all of us that we're all winners,” Hocevar said. “I was 22nd in practice, and I kind of just took it easy because I felt like my car was going to be pretty good. You have a little bit of a risk here, obviously. I thought that we’d be just fine. I just kind of went with a feel where, probably before Talladega, I was trying to win practice, win qualifying, and try to talk myself into the thought that we're going to win the race.

“Everybody's just jollier, I guess. Everybody's just kind of slower and more relaxed. I could just tell by the way they were pulling the hood pins and little things. They just have a lot of confidence. It’s not that often that I sit there and just go. 'We’re 22nd in practice and think we're going to win the pole, as long as I don't mess this up.' Especially when I saw Daniel (Suarez) roll out, our cars are very similar. I thought we’d be really close. I didn't expect it to be that close, but I'm just glad I was on the front end of it.”

Hocevar will share the front row with Spire Motorsports teammate Daniel Suarez. Suarez ran a fast lap of 191.320 mph.

Chris Buescher qualified third at 190.981 mph, Denny Hamlin qualified fourth at 190.786 mph, and Chase Briscoe completed the top five at 190.786 mph.

Kyle Busch qualified sixth at 190.611 mph, Christopher Bell qualified seventh at 190.456 mph, and Tyler Reddick qualified eighth at 190.416 mph. Alex Bowman qualified ninth at 190.382 mph, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10 qualifiers at 190.168 mph.

Connor Zilisch qualified 12th. It is a career-best effort for the Trackhouse Racing driver.

Chase Eliott qualified 14th, William Byron qualified 15th, Corey Heim qualified 17th, and Michael McDowell qualified 19th.

Joey Logano qualified 23rd. Logano is the defending race winner.

Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon did not make qualifying attempts. Wallace crashed in practice, and Dillon’s team is working on an engine change.

There are 38 drivers entered in Sunday’s race.

UP NEXT: The Wurth 400 at 3:30pm ET.

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