for WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY
Texas Motor Speedway will celebrate its 30th anniversary season this weekend with a NASCAR tripleheader featuring the WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY Cup Series race.
Sunday’s WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY (2:30 p.m. CT, TV: FS1, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM) will mark the 46th NASCAR Cup Series race run at “The Great American Speedway!” since the Fort Worth venue debuted in 1997.
Here’s the “Fast Five” storylines heading into the WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY:
1) A hurricane warning may be in effect for Fort Worth this weekend – and Carson “Hurricane” Hocevar is the storm to watch.
Rise & shine race fans, it’s race week. ☀️#WURTH400 | @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/63EBYtMHIx
— Texas Motor Speedway (@TXMotorSpeedway) April 27, 2026
Hocevar arrives riding the strong winds of his first NASCAR Cup Series victory, which came in Sunday’s race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
The 23-year-old Spire Motorsports driver earned a dramatic 0.114-second victory over RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher in his 91st Cup Series start. It also marked just the second win for the three-car organization, dating to Justin Haley’s victory at Daytona in July of 2019.
And Hocevar celebrated it in unforgettable fashion. It was only fitting he had a unique victory lap celebration planned, sitting on the driver side window opening while somehow steering his No. 77 Chevrolet to soak it all in.
“So I had thought of just like, man, I have really long legs, I wonder if I can hit the throttle and sit on the door and ride, just kind of see everybody,” said Hocevar, who drives the No. 77 Chevrolet. “I just wanted them (fans) to get as loud as possible. I felt like they would if they could see me seeing them. I mean, ultimately, I just wanted to make sure I soaked every bit of it in. I think I could tell you what everybody was wearing, where every seat was, where every (No.) 77 shirt was.”
Now he heads to Texas Motor Speedway, which also served as the site of another career first. Last season, he earned his first Cup Series pole there, leading 22 laps and finishing 24th. Hocevar has made three Cup Series starts at TMS, with a best finish of 10th coming in 2024.
2) Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is about to run a Texas triple, and nobody will log more laps or chase more hardware this weekend.
Larson is known for his racing versatility – whether it be stock cars, Indy cars or dirt machines – and that talent will be on full display this weekend as he competes in three racing series at TMS.
In addition to his usual NASCAR Cup Series driving duties in the No. 5 Chevrolet, he also will compete in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on the 1.5-mile oval and the Interstate Batteries High Limits Racing Series Stockyard Stampede at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.
Larson’s race week will begin Thursday with the opening night of the dirt track event. On Friday, Larson will practice and qualify in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 340.
On Saturday, he will get a taste of all three series, beginning with practice and qualifying for the Cup Series Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY. An hour after qualifying, he’ll jump into the No. 88 entry for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 340, where he is the defending race winner. He’ll close out the busy day by hustling over to the dirt track for the final night of racing in the High Limits Racing Series.
Larson will then return to the big track Sunday looking to secure his second Cup Series win at TMS in the Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY. His lone win came in 2021 from the pole.
3) The last time Tyler Reddick visited the Lone Star State he made history … and he hasn’t stopped since.
Reddick, who drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR star Denny Hamlin, became the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races of the Cup Series season. After victories at the season-opening Daytona 500 and Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway, he set the mark with a win at Circuit of The Americas in Austin on March 1.
He added a fourth win in the season’s first six races at Darlington, joining only NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt (1987) and Bill Elliott (1992) in that elite company. His fifth came two races ago at Kansas Speedway, giving him victories in half of the races run this season.
Reddick’s dominant start has provided him with a 110-point cushion over second-place Hamlin and 140 over third-place Ryan Blaney of Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
He is no stranger to success at Texas Motor Speedway, where he owns a win in 2022 with Richard Childress Racing and three top-five finishes in seven starts overall. His best performance with 23XI Racing came in 2024 when he started and finished fourth. Reddick also has led at least one lap in his last four visits, including 36 or more in three of those races.
4) Will Texas deliver the next NASCAR Cup Series first-time winner? The trend says don’t rule it out.
A recent trend has emerged with first-time Cup Series winners in two of the last three races.
Hocevar was the latest Sunday at Talladega while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs started it April 12 with his first Cup Series win at Bristol Motor Speedway in his 131st career start.
Will a third emerge at Texas Motor Speedway? There are nine full-time entrants still chasing that elusive first win. Ty Dillon of Kaulig Racing has the most career starts among the group with 291 while Ryan Preece of RFK Racing is second with 233. Preece did open the season by winning the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, though that race is classified as an exhibition event.
The others include Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland (154 starts), Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware (152), Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek (123), Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson (121), Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith (91), 23XI Racing’s Riley Herbst (54) and Trackhouse Racing rookie Connor Zilisch (13).
Who’s next?
5) RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, the only full-time, Texas-bred driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, nearly snapped a 53-race winless drought with a runner-up finish Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
The 33-year-old Prosper native’s last victory came at Watkins Glen in September of 2024, and since then he has been close with two second-place finishes and five performances among the top four.
Buescher is off to a strong start this season, ranking seventh in the Cup Series standings behind five top-10 finishes in 10 starts.
It would be fitting for him to end the now 54-race drought at his “home track,” but Texas Motor Speedway has not been kind to him. Buescher is still chasing his first top-10 finish after 16 career starts at TMS, with his best effort being 14th in 2023. Still, there are signs of progress – he has finished 18th or better in his last three visits.
