Carson Hocevar and Spire Motorsports teammate Daniel Suarez will lead the field to the green flag for the 2026 edition of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Hocevar was 0.056s clear of Suarez, earning his third career pole and his second of the 2026 season. The pole lap was 48.232s, averaging 186.598mph around the historic track.
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“It’s just unbelievable,” said Hocevar. “I got out of the car and they were yelling and cheering and everything. I couldn’t believe it, and I appreciate it. I don’t know if they were cheering just because I beat Denny or the fact that we’re on the front row. I’m super pumped. Denny stole one from me at Michigan, and this is the home town for Jeff (Dickerson, co-owner at Spire) and everybody at Spire. Just fun to use our own notes these last two years and get these cars better. Just enjoying it. These guys work really hard.”
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
He added that he’s going to “soak this in a lot” as Indianapolis is his favorite track on the schedule.
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23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick was the best Toyota driver in third, followed by the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The third Spire car wasn’t far behind either, with Michael McDowell sixth. Part-timer Corey Heim qualified a strong seventh, while Alex Bowman led the way for Hendrick Motorsports in eighth. Earlier in the weekend, he announced plans to retire after the 2027 season.
A.J. Allmendinger earned an impressive starting spot for Kaulig Racing in ninth, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top ten.
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The highest-qualifying Ford driver was Ryan Blaney in 13th, and there are a lot of notables with some work to do on Sunday. Last week’s winner, Joey Logano, starts 19th on the grid.
William Byron will start 21st, Ross Chastain 22nd, Christopher Bell 23rd, Shane van Gisbergen 25th, Chase Elliott 27th, and defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace back in 29th.
Austin Cindric, who enters this race holding the 16th and final spot in the Chase, qualified 35th, while In-Season Challenge finalist Todd Gilliland starts 36th as he faces Blaney for that $1 million prize.
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Qualifying recap
San Diego winner Heim set the early benchmark at 48.529s, with the part-time driver again impressing in that No. 67 23XI Racing entry. This is his first-ever NASCAR race (in any division) at the historic speedway.
McDowell had a sketchy lap and nearly wiggled up into the wall at the exit of Turn 3, but it was still enough to dethrone Heim for the top spot. He did not stay there for long, as 23XI fought back with Reddick surging to the top of the speed charts.
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Later in the session, Hocevar rocketed to the top, over a tenth clear of Reddick. Spire teammate Suarez was just 0.056s off the pole lap. Blaney had a pole lap going until a big lift in Turn 3. Gibbs had a similar shot, but had to lift at the exit of Turn 2 and lost his advantage down the backstretch.
Chase Elliott touched the wall between Turns 3 and 4, but other than that, there were no real incidents to report from the qualifying session.
2026 Brickyard 400 complete starting lineup
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