Carson Hocevar rises at Talladega for emotional first NASCAR Cup Series victory: Fitting for his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, Carson Hocevar turned in an ultra-original victory celebration sitting on the window ledge of his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet while driving around the massive 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway soaking up the emotions that will forever define and reward his first victory lap.[Read More]
#77-Carson Hocevar won the Jack Link’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. The win is the first of his career.
#17-Chris Buescher finished 2nd followed by #48-Alex Bowman, #9-Chase Elliott, #38-Zane Smith, #47-Ricky Stenhouse Jr, #1-Ross Chastain, #2-Austin Cindric, #4-Noah Gragson, and #8-Kyle Busch.
Hocevar and Buescher swapped the lead throughout the last 40 laps of the race, but Hocevar was first the the checkered flag by just over one tenth of a second.
Pole sitter #45-Tyler Reddick finished 14th.
The big one happened on lap 113 when #1-Ross Chastain got into the back of #23-Bbba Wallace and turned him at the front of the pack. 26 cars were involved in the accident, forcing a ten minute red flag for track cleanup.
Stage 1 was won by #60-Ryan Preece. Stage 2 was won by #1-Ross Chastain
The fastest lap bonus a earned by #38-Zane Smith
There were 52 lead changes among 16 drivers and 6 cautions for 30 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 147.504mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Infraction Report.
Race Fast Facts – Talladega:
Carson Hocevar won the Jack Link’s 500, his first victory in 91 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2026.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in six races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Chris Buescher (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 22 races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2026.
Alex Bowman (third) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 21 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Connor Zilisch (26th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Tyler Reddick leads the point standings by 110 points over Denny Hamlin
Driver Points /Chase Standings after Talladega:
Race 10 of 26 in the regular season:
1) #45-Tyler Reddick,484, +262
2) #11-Denny Hamlin, 374, +152
3) #12-Ryan Blaney, 344, +122
4) #9-Chase Elliott, 340, +118
5) #54-Ty Gibbs, 322, +100
6) #5-Kyle Larson, 315, +93
7) #17-Chris Buescher, 309, +87
8) #77-Carson Hocevar, 292, +70
9) #20-Christopher Bell, 290, +68
10) #6-Brad Keselowski, 279, +57
11) #24-William Byron, 277, +55
12) #23-Bubba Wallace, 276, +54
13) #60-Ryan Preece, 269, +47
14) #7-Daniel Suarez, 235, +13
15) #22-Joey Logano, 234, +12
16) #2-Austin Cindric, 226, +4
Outside the top 16:
17) #19-Chase Briscoe, 222, -4
18) #1-Ross Chastain, 205, -21
19) #97-Shane Van Gisbergen, 195, -31
20) #38-Zane Smith, 183, -43
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag for Hocevar. His first career win. Several cars wrecked coming to the finish but NASCAR held the flag.
White flag for Buescher. Ahead of Hocevar by .051 second at the line.
Lap 187 – Two to go. Hocevar ahead of Buescher by .017 second.
Lap 186 – Green flag with three laps to go. Buescher and Hocevar on the lead lap. Stenhouse and Bowman in row two. Elliott and ADillon in row three.
Lap 182 – CAUTION for a spin by Jones. Stenhouse got into Hocevar which forced him into Jones. The car stalled and NASCAR had to call the caution. Hamlin is the free pass. Buescher leads Hocevar Stenhouse Bowman ADillon Elliott Preece Smith Chastain and Bell.
Lap 179 – Ten laps to go. Buescher leads Hocevar. Buescher has Jones and Bowman behind him. Stenhouse and Elliott are behind Hocevar.
Lap 176 – Buescher leads at the line but the field remains double wide. 13 to go. The top 12 cars are within a half second of each other.
Lap 174 – Hocevar leads Buescher by .013 second. Jones Stenhouse and Elliott round out the top 5.
Lap 173 – Buescher and Hocevar out front. The field remains double wide. 16 laps to go.
Lap 170 – Buescher still leads. Jones to second, Stenhouse third and Hocevar back to fourth.
Lap 168 – Buescher and Hocevar battling for the lead with the field still double wide.
Lap 167 – Green flag with 22 laps to go. Buescher leads Hocevar Bowman Stenhouse Jones Elliott ADillon Preece Smith Ware. 22 drivers are on the lead lap. Hamlin is the only driver one lap down.
Lap 163 – Pit road is open. Leaders stay out.
Lap 161 – CAUTION for debris in turn two. Appears to be a tire off Reddick’s car after he got into the wall.
Lap 159 – Thirty laps to go: Hocevar Buescher Jones Bowman Elliott Preece Stenhouse ADillon Gilliland Ware the top 10.
Lap 152 – Hocevar the leader at the line.
Lap 151 – Green flag for the start of the final stage. 38 laps remaining.
Lap 149 – Restart waved off to get the field correct.
Lap 146 – Pit road is open. Leaders are in. This could be the last stop of the day if the race goes green (what’s the odds of that?). Off pit road: Buescher Bowman Hocevar Stenhouse Jones Elliott Preece Ware SVG Smith. SVG caught speeding. Gragson stayed out an extra lap so Hamlin could not take the wavearound. He is the first car a lap down.
Lap 144 – CAUTION for the end of stage 2: Chastain Bell Buescher Stenhouse Gilliland Preece Ware Bowman Elliott Smith. Cindric is the free pass.
Lap 142 – Hamlin comes down just before pits close. He is a lap down and will try to take the wavearound at the stage break.
Lap 141 – Bell still out front with 3 laps remaining in the stage.
Lap 139 – Bell leads by .001 second at the line as the lead pack is double file.
Lap 137 – Chastain now leads Bell Buescher Stenhouse Gilliland Preece Ware Bowman Elliott and Reddick. Seven laps to go in stage 2.
Lap 132 – Bell leads at the line.
Lap 130 – Green flag: Chastain Bell Gilliland Buescher Ware Stenhouse Preece Elliott Allmendinger Bowman. 14 laps left in stage 2.
Lap 124 – CAUTION back out. Gibbs into the wall in turn 4 after a tire blue. McDowell also with damage after getting in the back of Gibbs.
Lap 123 – Chastain back to the lead over Bell Gilliland Buescher and Ware.
Lap 122 – Back to green flag. 22 laps left in stage 2.
Lap 120 – In the accident, per NASCAR (26 cars): #2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 54, 66, 71, 77, 88, 97
Lap 119 – Bell Gragson and Hocevar did not pit. They are the leaders. Eight drivers currently behind the wall, 20 on the lead lap.
Lap 118 – Pit road is open. Off pit road: Chastain Buescher Preece Gilliland Elliott Bowman Ware Stenhouse Allmendinger Smith.
Lap 117 – Pit road not open yet, but timing currently showing 20 cars on the lead lap – several of them have damage.
Lap 116 – Red flag lifted after just under 10 minutes.
Lap 116 – Red flag for track clean up. Preece Buescher Chastain Bell Jones McDowell are the top 6. They appear to have not gotten any damage.
Lap 115 – CAUTION. Big one on the backstretch. Included (to name a few): Wallace Blaney Logano Suarez Reddick Nemechek Zilisch Byron Gibbs Suarez Busch Berry Jones Larson Keselowski. It started when Chastain got into the back of Wallace and turn him at the front of the field.
Lap 114 – Logano still leads. The field is pretty much three wide throughout with Logano in the middle.
Lap 112 – Logano now the leader over Blaney Wallace Keselowski and Chastain.
Lap 108 – Chastain out front of Logano Blaney Wallace and Custer.
Lap 107 – Wallace back out front.
Lap 106 – Chastain leads Wallace at the line. Much of the field still double file.
Lap 105 – Green flag for the start of the second stage. This stage has just 39 laps remaining. Cars will not need to stop. Wallace leads.
Lap 101 – Pit road is open and leaders are in. Off pit road: Wallace Chastain Logano Custer Blaney Keselowski Gilliland Preece Buescher Bell. Wallace took only two tires.
Lap 99 – CAUTION for the end of stage 1. Preece leads over Keselowski Logano Buescher Blaney Berry Reddick Gragson Gilliland Chastain. Allmendinger is the free pass. Hamlin is a lap down
Lap 98 – Last lap of the stage. Preece leads Keselowski.
Lap 97 – Pit road is closed.
Lap 96 – Preece could be a lap short of fuel.
Lap 95 – Wallace pits. Herbst penalized for advancing his position below the yellow line.
Lap 94 – Five to go in the first stage. No changes up front. There is a chance the leaders could choose to pit just before the end of the stage so they can start stage 2 out front.
Lap 92 – Seven laps remaining in stage 1: Preece Buescher Logano Keselowski Blaney Wallace Berry Reddick Gragson Gilliland the top 10. They have all stopped just once.
Lap 89 – Bell Byron SVG Bowman Jones with 10 laps remaining in the stage. Preece now leads Buescher Logano Keselowski and Wallace.
Lap 82 – Herbst caught speeding again.
Lap 80 – Bell continues to lead. The front 16 cars have only stopped once so far.
Lap 71 – Bell to the lead for the first time today as pit stops continue. Bell is followed by Byron SVG Gilliland and Bowman.
4:25pm/et – Just over 69 laps are complete in 1 hour.
Lap 69 – ADillon to the lead again as pit stops begin again.
Lap 63 – Gibbs back to the lead.
Lap 62 – McDowell takes the lead.
Lap 61 – Gibbs continues to lead over McDowell Nemechek Busch and Ware. Hamlin and Briscoe are the last cars on the lead lap, just ahead of Gibbs.
Lap 55 – Gibbs still leads. The top 5 have separated themselves slightly from the rest of the field. Sixth place Gilliland is 1.4 second back.
Lap 50 – Gibbs now leads over Nemechek Busch Allmendinger Chastain Gilliland Larson Logano Hocevar and Blaney.
Lap 49 – Reddick pit with others up front. Herbst was too fast on pit road. Smith has uncontrolled tire.
Lap 48 – Reddick takes the lead over Suarez and Herbst as the leaders pit. Cindric missed his pit.
Lap 46 – About ten more drivers pit, mostly Chevrolets.
Lap 45 – Preece leads Keselowski Berry Cindric and Gilliland.
Lap 43 – Finchum too fast on pit road.
Lap 42 – Pit road is busy as eight drivers come in. Preece takes the lead. Hamlin was too fast and will have to serve a pass through penalty. Safety violation for Briscoe.
Lap 41 – TDillon pits but no one is with him.
Lap 40 – Gase loses a lap.
Lap 37 – Most of the field is now single file as everyone starts getting in position for pit stops.
Lap 34 – The top seven drivers are still out front of the pack. Seventh place ADillon is .6 second off the lead while eighth place TDillon is 1.3 seconds back.
Lap 31 – The front of the field is now single file. Reddick is running 39th and reporting a possible power issue.
Lap 29 – For those teams that are looking to pit twice during the stage, stops could be coming in the next several laps.
Lap 23 – Hamlin still leads. The top seven drivers have broken away from the pack. It looks like everyone will pit twice during this stage.
Lap 19 – Hamlin retakes the lead. Finchum falls to 8th.
Lap 17 – Finchum continues to lead over Hamlin Briscoe Gibbs Nemechek Ware Busch ADillon Blaney Chastain. The top 8 are single file.
Lap 11 – Finchum, in the #66, is the leader for the first time in his Cup career.
Lap 10 – Hamlin and Briscoe continue to trade the lead. Most of the field still three wide.
Lap 9 – Briscoe back to the lead.
Lap 7 – Hamlin back out front.
Lap 5 – Briscoe the leader. The field is three wide from front to back.
Lap 4 – ADillon to the lead over Hamlin. Larson is back to 6th and Reddick to 12th.
Lap 2 – Hamlin leads the first lap. Reddick has fallen to fifth.
• 3:25pm/et – Green flag at Talladega. First stage is 98 laps today.
• 3:22pm/et – Green has been waved off so NASCAR could check a couple weeper at pit out.
• NASCAR announces that 7:10pm/et is the sunset time. If the race is still ongoing at that time, there will be two laps remaining and the race will end after those laps.
• 3:09pm/et – Engines are fired.
• 3:00pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
• 2:40pm/et – Reddick announced on Fox RaceDay that he has signed a contract extension with 23XI Racing.
• 1:00pm/et – No cars reported to the rear for today, but some final checks still underway.
• No weather issues today at the track. The National Weather Service says “Areas of fog before 10am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph. ”
Race details:
Broadcast: FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 188 laps / 500.08 miles
Stages: 98 / 143 / 188
Average time of race: 3:19:15
Pit road speed: 55 mph
Caution vehicle speed: 70 mph
Fuel Window: 45 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
Invocation: 2:00:20 p.m.
National Anthem: 2:01:00 p.m.
Command: 2:08:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 2:20:00 p.m.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: none
Pre-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage is complete. The cars of #10-Ty Dillon and #16-A.J. Allmendinger failed twice (loss of pit selection; car chief ejected).
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Jack Link’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway have been made.
Pole sitter #45-Tyler Reddick chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #5-Kyle Larson took the 6th stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Talladega Pit Stall page.
#45-Tyler Reddick will start on the pole for the Jack Link’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway after qualifying was rained out Saturday morning. The lineup was set by the rulebook. The starting order was determined by NASCAR’s qualifying metric, which is based 70% on the previous race finish by owner and 30% on current owner points position.
#5-Kyle Larson will start second followed by #11-Denny Hamlin, #23-Bubba Wallace, #19-Chase Briscoe, #6-Brad Keselowski, #24-William Byron, #9-Chase Elliott, #54-Ty Gibbs, and #17-Chris Buescher.
#62-Casey Mears did not qualify because the team is lowest in owner points of those entered.
See the complete Jack Link’s 500 Starting Lineup.
Qualifying Order
There will be no practice at Talladega.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Jack Link’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is posted, 41 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Open teams include: #33-Jesse Love, #44-Joey Gase, #62-Casey Mears, #66-Chad Finchum, #78-Daniel Dye.
See the full entry list on the Jack Link’s 500 Entry List page.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Talladega: NASCAR Cup Series teams will run the same Goodyear Racing Eagle tires at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend as at Daytona International Speedway to start the season.
Statistical Advance: Analyzing the Jack Link’s 500: A look at the NASCAR Cup Series statistical performances at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama.
Race rules and information:
