Hocevar Snags Brickyard 400 Pole; Spire Motorsports Sweeps Front Row

The Spire Motorsports takeover in the NASCAR Cup Series continued on Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as Carson Hocevar led the way in a front row sweep for Spire Motorsports in qualifying for Sunday's Brickyard 400.

Hocevar secured the pole position with a lap time of 48.232 seconds (186.598 mph), fast enough by 0.056 seconds to take the top qualifying speed in the session. Hocevar was elated to hear a round of applause from the crowd on hand at IMS after he secured the pole as Denny Hamlin, the final car to take to the track, failed to top his lap time.

"Yeah, I mean, it's just unbelievable. I just got out of the car, and [the fans are] just yelling, cheering and everything. I just couldn't believe it. No, I appreciate it," Hocevar said. "I don't know if they're cheering just because I beat Denny, or just the fact that we're on the front row. Denny stole one from me at Michigan."

Then, Hocevar took a poke at Joe Gibbs Racing, which is locked in a legal battle with Spire Motorsports after alleging that Spire Motorsports stole proprietary car setup information when the team hired Chris Gabehart, JGR's longtime employee and former competition director.

"Yeah, this is hometown for Jeff [Dickerson] and everybody at Spire. Yeah, it's just fun to use our own notes for the last two years and get these cars better and faster," Hocevar smiled. "Just enjoying it."

Daniel Suarez, who drives the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, will start from the outside of the front row, as he career revitalization tour has continued in his first season away from Trackhouse Racing.

Tyler Reddick, who won the opening three races of the season, was the top non-Spire driver in the qualifying session, and will start from the third position driving the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Ty Gibbs, who drives the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, will join Reddick in the second row of the starting lineup.

Denny Hamlin, who is looking to cap off the career crown jewel sweep with a win in Sunday's Brickyard 400, will begin his quest from the fifth starting spot.

Michael McDowell, the third Spire Motorsports driver, will start sixth, while Corey Heim, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Official Brickyard 400 Starting Lineup

1. 77 - Carson Hocevar
2. 7 - Daniel Suarez
3. 45 - Tyler Reddick
4. 54 - Ty Gibbs
5. 11 - Denny Hamlin
6. 71 - Michael McDowell
7. 67 - Corey Heim
8. 48 - Alex Bowman
9. 16 - AJ Allmendinger
10. 5 - Kyle Larson
11. 19 - Chase Briscoe
12. 41 - Cole Custer
13. 12 - Ryan Blaney
14. 43 - Erik Jones
15. 17 - Chris Buescher
16. 6 - Brad Keselowski
17. 42 - John Hunter Nemechek
18. 35 - Riley Herbst
19. 22 - Joey Logano
20. 3 - Austin Dillon
21. 24 - William Byron
22. 1 - Ross Chastain
23. 20 - Christopher Bell
24. 47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25. 97 - Shane van Gisbergen
26. 21 - Josh Berry
27. 9 - Chase Elliott
28. 10 - Ty Dillon
29. 23 - Bubba Wallace
30. 38 - Zane Smith
31. 88 - Connor Zilisch
32. 33 - Austin Hill
33. 4 - Noah Gragson
34. 60 - Ryan Preece
35. 2 - Austin Cindric
36. 34 - Todd Gilliland
37. 51 - Cody Ware
38. 62 - Casey Mears
39. 78 - Daniel Dye

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