Carson Hocevar’s Unusual Victory Celebration

Explained in His Own Words

Carson Hocevar commemorates his Talladega Superspeedway win
 and celebration with a unique burnout session after driving
down the frontstretch, sitting outside of the driver window.

 

    

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 Superspeedway,  soaking up the emotions that will forever define and reward his first victory lap.

 

Question: People many years from now will be talking about your celebration. Can you take us through how you planned this?

 

CARSON HOCEVAR: It wasn’t clean by any means. It took me a while. I don’t know if the TV saw it, but I felt like I was really close to the inside wall and I did not have that steering wheel on, so I was panicking for a second.

 

I’ve dreamt about that in the off-season. I just wanted to have something that was meaningful for me. I mean, obviously being a Jr. fan, I remember that iconic clip, he was inside the car, helmet off, enjoying the fans going backwards.

 

But the fans, they don’t really get to know if they hear ’em or see ’em and everything. 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. I just wanted them to get as loud as possible. I felt like they would if they could see me seeing them.

 

Yeah, 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 77 shirt was. I think I could have pointed it all out to you because I remember it so clearly right now. That means more than anything else to me, just that I know this has been a blur. I could tell you exactly just off turn four, it was like, I have it, to right now, I could tell you every second.

 

Question: You were standing up?

 

CARSON HOCEVAR: No, I was sitting on the door. I had my left foot… What I had to do is I couldn’t get — I couldn’t twist my foot around with the steering wheel on to drop the clutch. I had to drop the clutch with the wheel off.

 

So I had the wheel off, I dropped the clutch, and I was hustling to get the wheel on. And I got the wheel on, turned around. So it just kind of idled for me. And then as I felt more comfortable riding on the door, I was just kind of moving the steering wheel a little bit, stayed straight. Then I started giving it gas. Yeah, that’s how I did it.

 

I was really worried about how I was going to hit the wall and do the burnout against it. It wasn’t that hard of a hit. Just burned it down. I wanted to at least burn it down next to the deal. That was the biggest thing. It took me a while to figure out how to do it. Once I did it, I haven’t had a phone, I haven’t seen anything, hopefully it was cool.

 

Well, Carson . . . you are not my favorite driver, but that was COOL!

 

 

THAT’S HOW YOU RIDE THE DENTE!!!!! @CarsonHocevar @SpireMotorsport https://t.co/uyUolX6HFT

— Chili's Grill & Bar (@Chilis) April 26, 2026

 

source: NASCAR Media

NASCAR / ARCA Race Weekend Recap (Talladega)

Winners: Carson Hocevar (Cup); Corey Day (O'Reilly); plus Andy Jankowiak (ARCA)

NASCAR Cup

Carson Hocevar Earns First Career Cup Win in Talladega Thriller

 

Carson Hocevar earned the first victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career, outdueling Chris Buescher with a last-lap pass at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

 

Hocevar, who drives the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, joined Ty Gibbs (who won two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway), as the second first-time winner this season.

 

“I’m so thankful. This is the biggest dream I’ve ever thought of,” Hocevar said after a thrilling celebration. “Thank you, everybody. I couldn’t have done it in any better way. Hopefully my grandpa’s watching. My grandma died last year, so I’m so thankful that I can give my grandpa a trophy now. Wish my parents were here. All thanks to (team co-owner) Jeff Dickerson. Heat Wave (sponsor). Everybody is here. Unbelievable. I’m just so thankful, thank you.”

Hocevar, who has made headlines for angering veterans with aggressive moves, won in his 91st start in NASCAR’s premier series. The 23-year-old from Portage, Michigan, used a drafting push from Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet to edge past Buescher’s No. 17 Ford by 0.114 seconds.

 

Chase Elliott and Zane Smith unofficially completed the top five after a crash coming to the checkered flag unfolded in the tri-oval. Contact between Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell and Shane van Gisbergen ended the event after a three-lap dash to the finish.

 

HE IS DRIVING THE CAR AND CELEBRATING WITH THE FANS ... AT THE SAME TIME!!! pic.twitter.com/8DaQUd6pbl

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 26, 2026

Pole: Tyler Reddick (Lineup Set By Rulebook Metric)

Click Here for Unofficial Race Results

Next Race: The Cup Series will return on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 3:30 pm ET for the ‘Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY’ at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series

Corey Day Wins First Career O’Reilly Race

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Corey Day (left) and Kyle Larson (middle)
celebrate with spotter Tyler Monn (right).

 

Corey Day claimed the first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career Saturday afternoon, driving to the yellow and checkered flags in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway — his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet leading only the last lap to earn his first trophy in his first full-time season.

 

The 20-year-old Californian sprint car driver delivered the multi-time Cup Series championship-winning Hendrick team its first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Talladega and this weekend earned a win for a special “guest” crew member, former NFL great Jason Kelce, who dressed out in Hendrick blue and helped transport tires for the team on pit road Saturday.

 

“I sure as heck didn’t think it [first win] would be at a superspeedway,” said a grinning Day, who also won a sprint car race in Nebraska earlier this week. “My 17 guys just built a rocket ship.

 

“I feel like we’ve been close, had a good day at Rockingham and had a couple other good days and just didn’t finish it off, so this is super cool.”

 

We hope this is the first of many for @corey_day_. pic.twitter.com/AZAW9AdBlX

— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) April 25, 2026

Pole: Jesse Love

Click Here for Race Results

Next Race: The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series will return on Saturday, May 2, 2026 at 3:30 pm ET for the ‘Andy's Frozen Custard 340’ at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Trucks

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series did not race this weekend

We're happy to have you back in a truck, @CBellRacing. pic.twitter.com/nSSzjj1ISn

— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 11, 2026

Next Race: The Truck Series will return on Friday, May 1, 2026 at 8:00 pm ET for the ‘SpeedyCash.com 250’ at Texas Motor Speedway.

ARCA

Andy Jankowiak Wins His First ARCA Menards Series Race

 

A bold move from Andy Jankowiak around the outside of Cleetus McFarland and Gus Dean at Talladega Superspeedway propelled him to his first career ARCA Menards Series victory on Saturday afternoon.

 

Amidst the chaos of the situation, Jankowiak stayed in the throttle, not knowing the overtime attempt was just one lap.

 

When reality did set in, the emotions quickly overwhelmed Jankowiak, who has worked tirelessly during the 2020s to find sustainability on the ARCA Menards Series platform. Jankowiak initially did this through his own program before becoming the primary driver for KLAS Motorsports after they purchased the operation.

 

“I thought there was one more lap,” Jankowiak said. “The radio was super staticky. I’m still waiting to wake up here. Everything that got me to ARCA and everything that’s come after with [co-owners] Kevin Lapierre, Andy Seuss and Mike Dayton, there’s never been more of a team effort standing in Victory Lane at Talladega.

 

“What an adventure.”

 

WHAT A FINSH AT ‘DEGA! 🤯

📺 @FS1 pic.twitter.com/SSMgs5MSAg

— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) April 25, 2026

Pole: Gio Ruggiero (Field Set by 2026 Owner Points)

Click Here for Race Results

Next Race: The ARCA Menard Series East will return on Saturday, May 2, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. CT for the ‘Cook Out Music City 150’ at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

Next Race: The ARCA Menard Series West will return on Saturday, May 2, 2026 at 8:30 p.m. PT for the ‘Bill Schmitt Memorial 173 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame’ at Shasta Speedway.

 

source: NASCAR  and ARCA Media

Talladega Superspeedway #NASCAR / #ARCA Race Schedule

ARCA and O’Reilly’s on Saturday / Cup on Sunday

 

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series spring weekend at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled for April 24–26, 2026, featuring the Jack Link's 500 on Sunday, April 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX.

 

The weekend includes ARCA Menards Series and O'Reilly Auto Parts Series racing.

 

2026 Talladega Weekend Schedule (April 24-26)

Friday, April 24, 2026

• 3:30 p.m. ET: ARCA Practice
• 5:30 p.m. ET: O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Qualifying (CW App)

Saturday, April 25, 2026

• 10:30 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Prime Video)
• 12:30 p.m.: ARCA Series Race (FS1)
• 4:00 p.m.: O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race (CW)

Sunday, April 24, 2026

• 3:00 p.m.: Jack Link's 500 Cup Series Race (FOX)

All Times are Eastern Time (ET)

 

At @TALLADEGA, it's not over until the checkered flag flies. pic.twitter.com/0lGIH2c6Zn

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 23, 2026

 

source: NASCAR Media