Contact Us
Featured  ·  NASCAR Cup Series

Chris Buescher Explains What He Needed In Order To Beat Carson Hocevar At Talladega

April 26, 2026  ·
  John Trent

A dejected Chris Buescher came up a spot short to Carson Hocevar at Talladega Motorspeedway on Sunday evening.

On the final lap, heading down the back stretch, Buescher with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott, and his teammate Ryan Preece lined up behind was able to get out ahead of Hocevar, Alex Bowman, and Austin Dillon who were lined up on the bottom.

However, as they came off turn four everyone started making their moves and Buecher ended up having to a whale of job in order to avoid wrecking after he got squirly from a push from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Behind him, they weren’t so lucky. They were four-wide with Zane Smith diving to the inside of Dillon. Outside of Dillon was Preece who had Elliott above him. Elliott was able to dive back to the middle while Preece got sideways after contact from Van Gisbergen and Dillon. Those three would wreck and severely hinder any chance of a momentum push for Buescher on the top side.

Meanwhile on the bottom, they were all still lined up, and Hocevar was able to maintain the lead and take home his first ever win.

Following the race, Buescher spoke with Fox NASCAR and was asked what he could have done differently in order to get the win. He said, “Coming off turn four, felt like we were in a spot to take this Kroger, Jack  Links Ford Mustang into victory lane. Man, it was close. But to have the the title sponsor on board with Jack Links and hanging with Sasquatch all weekend thought that would have been a cool victory lane photo.

“Proud of everybody. It was an awesome day. It was solid execution. It was a good race for us. It really was,” he continued. “I would say we probably needed [Erik] Jones behind us. He was really strong and was giving us excellent runs. When we lost him it was a little lonely up there. Excellent job by everybody. Proud of our group and what we did. We’ve been leading the last three times we’ve been here, I guess. We’re getting closer.”

With 8 laps left in the race, Hocevar made contact with Erik Jones that sent him spinning into the infield. He eventually was able to collect it at the entrance of pit road. The race initially stayed green, but once it was apparent that Jones was stuck in the grass, the yellow flag was flown.

NEXT: Newly Promoted NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell Reveals His Agenda For The Sport

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Author: John Trent