Carson Hocevar wins pole for Brickyard 400

Carson Hocevar will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. 

The 23-year-old from Portage, Michigan, ran a qualifying lap of 48.232 seconds/186.598 mph around the 2.5-mile track and saluted the favorable crowd that cheered him on when it became clear he had won the pole.

"It's just unbelievable," Hocevar told truTV. "I'm super pumped. Denny stole on from me [at] Michigan. These guys work really hard."

Hamlin, who barely edged Hocevar for the pole at Michigan on June 6, got tight in turn 4 on his lap and ended up qualifying fifth. 

The pole is the second for Hocevar in 2026, the third of his Cup career and his first not to come at Texas Motor Speedway. 

Notable qualifying results

Hocevar's Spire Motorsports teammate in Daniel Suarez will join him on the front row, with Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs and Hamlin rounding out the top five. Michael McDowell, Corey Heim, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson completed the top 10. 

Other notable qualifying efforts include Chase Briscoe in 11th, Ryan Blaney in 13th, North Wilkesboro winner Joey Logano in 19th, defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace in 29th and Todd Gilliland in 36th. 

Daniel Dye was the slowest driver to take time, running a lap of 50.290 seconds/178.962 mph. He'll start last (39th) on Sunday. 

Sunday's Brickyard 400 will go green shortly after 2 p.m. ET on TNT and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, with pre-race coverage at 1 p.m. ET on TNT.