Carson Hocevar earns 1st NASCAR Cup pole and becomes youngest polesitter ever at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Carson Hocevar earned his first NASCAR Cup pole with a qualifying lap of 191.659 mph at Texas on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Hocevar is the youngest pole winner ever at Texas Motor Speedway, which will host its 45th Cup race on Sunday. The Spire Motorsports driver, making his 56th career Cup, is on the front row with Cup points leader William Byron, also in a Chevrolet.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Byron turned a qualifying lap of 191.564 mph, just ahead of the 191.523 by Austin Cindric, the Team Penske driver who won in his Ford at Talladega last week.

Byron's teammate, Kyle Larson, qualified fourth. Michael McDowell, who drives for Spire with Hocevar, will start fifth.

Chase Elliott, last year's winner at Texas, qualified 29th.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing