Carson Hocevar is still searching for his first win as a NASCAR Cup Series driver, and he nearly got it in the sport's biggest race.

The 23-year-old was the only driver pulling triple duty in all three national divisions during Daytona Speedweek. Things started off well as he earned a runner-up finish in his Duel qualifying race, ensuring he would start the Daytona 500 from the sixth position on the grid.

But before the big show, he took part in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. In the Truck Series, he battled gremlins in both practice and the race, with his Spire Motorsports truck shutting off while leading the race.

He led 20 laps on Friday night, but also spun three separate times, causing back-to-back cautions at one point. In the end, he finished 35th, recording a DNF.

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

In the O'Reilly Series, he tool the wheel of a Young's Motorsports Chevrolet, and played it a bit safer. He never led, but unfortunately, a calmer approach didn't save him from the wrecks. He was collected in the final two incidents of the race, and finished 20th.

And then on pit road, he got screamed at by Carson Ware, who took issue with something that happened out on the track.

Hocevar hoped to put the tumultuous two days behind him, telling Motorsport.com's Matt Weaver on Saturday night: I'm hoping I'm destined to have really bad luck, and the Duel went completely fine, so I'm hoping it's just the fact that I'm running other races that the racing gods don't like me."

Well, his luck was much better on Sunday, until it wasn't. Hocevar took the lead from teammate Michael McDowell on the final restart of the race, and was leading at the white flag. However, his 500 dream ended soon after as an awkward bump from Erik Jones sent him spinning down the track.

He limped the car to the finish line, placing 18th -- his best finish of the weekend, but it was so close to being so much more.

POV from the 43 of the final lap of the Daytona 500. 💔 pic.twitter.com/np5yCy82S5

— LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (@LEGACYMotorClub) February 16, 2026

After the race, Hocevar reflected on the finish in a post-race media scrum: "The top had a huge run. Jones was just offset a little to the right. I don't know if I didn't commit all the way up, or if he just got me off-center, and just hooked me into the wall, and obviously I bounced off of it. 

"Yeah, our goal is to be leading at the wide. I feel like I'm a really, really good pusher. And I feel like I do a really good job. The 45 [Tyler Reddick] had the lead, and then 71 [McDowell] had strategy and I pushed him off into the lead. I feel like sometimes we were getting too far out, but I felt like that's what worked for the move. So, I was trying to just get us going ... Obviously, I'm fortunate. Car in my mirror at the white flag, won the race.  I think that's just good execution on our part and everything."

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

The positive is that he got a lot of stage points, which helps him looking ahead to the rest of the season. The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to Atlanta, where Hocevar finished second one year ago.

"Everybody cares about this race more than anything," added Hocevar. "And for us to be up front ... I'm really proud of that."

Read Also: Brad Keselowski calls Riley Herbst block "one of the dumbest things I've ever seen" Driving for Michael Jordan, Tyler Reddick wins the Daytona 500 in wreck-filled finish Official race results for the 2026 Daytona 500

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Kyle Busch will lead a field of 41 drivers to the green flag on Sunday in the Daytona 500. Busch has never won NASCAR's biggest crown jewel in 20 previous attempts, and his pole position is the first in his career at the Daytona 500.

William Byron has a chance to make history as the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s, but he'll be starting at the back of the pack after being involved in an crash in Thursday's Duel races.

Chevrolet will have a numerical advantage on the other manufacturers, with 19 Chevys in the field compared to 11 Fords and 11 Toyotas - which could give Chevy an advantage during green-flag pit stops if the teams can work together. Sunday's race will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

Here's the full starting order and paint scheme guide for the 2026 Daytona 500:

1. Kyle Busch - #8 Chevrolet

2. Chase Briscoe - #19 Toyota

3. Joey Logano - #22 Ford

4. Chase Elliott - #9 Chevrolet

5. Ryan Blaney - #12 Ford

6. Carson Hocevar - #77 Chevrolet

7. Austin Dillon - #3 Chevrolet

8. Kyle Larson - #5 Chevrolet

9. Brad Keselowski - #6 Ford

10. Michael McDowell - #71 Chevrolet

11. John Hunter Nemechek - #42 Toyota

12. Christopher Bell - #20 Toyota

13. Shane van Gisbergen - #97 Toyota

14. Josh Berry - #21 Ford

15. Daniel Suarez - #7 Chevrolet

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - #47 Chevrolet

17. Casey Mears - #66 Ford

18. Todd Gilliland - #34 Ford

19. Ryan Preece - #60 Ford

20. Ty Gibbs - #53 Toyota

21. Alex Bowman - #48 Chevrolet

22. Denny Hamlin - #11 Toyota

23. Cole Custer - #41 Chevrolet

24. Erik Jones - #43 Chevrolet

25. Noah Gragson - #4 Ford

26. Tyler Reddick - #45 Toyota

27. Bubba Wallace - #23 Toyota

28. Riley Herbst - #35 Toyota

29. Corey Heim - #67 Toyota

30. Zane Smith - #38 Ford

31. Jimmie Johnson - #84 Toyota

32. Connor Zilisch - #88 Chevrolet

33. Cody Ware - #51 Chevrolet

34. Ty Dillon - #10 Chevrolet

35. AJ Allmendinger - #16 Chevrolet

36. Austin Cindric - #2 Ford

37. Ross Chastain - #1 Chevrolet

38. BJ McLeod - #78 Chevrolet

39. William Byron - #24 Chevrolet

40. Justin Allgaier - #40 Chevrolet

41. Chris Buescher - #17 Ford

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Daytona 500: See the starting lineup, paint schemes for every car

Faith is a fundamental component to who Chandler Smith is as a man, father, husband and racer, so it comes to no surprise that he leaned on his convictions in articulating the range of emotions from missing the Daytona 500 to winning in the Truck Series 24 hours later.

“Truthfully, I pray a certain prayer before every race, and most of my prayers are very consistent in the certain sense of I'm always going to submit myself to the Lord's plan and whatever His will is for me,” Smith said. “And I am a firm believer that I wasn't meant to be in the Daytona 500 -- 110 percent.

“Once again, like I said, it's a consistent thing that I pray about is I just want to submit myself to God and His divine will for me. When I reflect back from my career from start to finish, all the trials and tribulations, all the highs I've been through, when I reflect back and look, I see God's hand, His provident hand in every single thing that that I've done, all the lessons that I've learned, even in life.”

That isn’t to say that Smith doesn’t get disappointed or frustrated in that process but he expressed conviction that it’s not his path to dictate. To his point, these were the same answers he gave after his premature elimination from the Truck Series playoffs last year – that it’s not his place to question a higher direction.

“Once again, tonight is even more of a testimony,” Smith said. “I could sit back and reflect back, you could even say this is maybe -- we didn't make it to the second round of playoffs last year, we had such a crappy first round and came down to New Hampshire in a must-win, and we finished second. And everyone was like, man, how are you not hanging your head by that?

“Once again, I believe that God has a certain plan and I'm going to submit myself to that plan. And when I reflect on tonight, I could definitely see His hand in it. A lot of people call this racing luck. I don't believe in luck.”

Whatever Smith or any observer wants to call it, the final lap was genuinely chaotic in that he needed a push from Ty Majeski to be in position to win. He needed to survived some daring moves by Gio Ruggiero. Smith needed Kaden Honeycutt to get trapped without a pusher after leading in the closing lap. H e needed Christian Eckes and John Hunter Nemechek’s moves to not pan out.

All of that happened.

Ty Majeski: “Oh, just chaos, typical Daytona. I thought, for a field full of guys with nothing to lose, this race could have been a lot crazier than what it was. Just proud of the entire field and proud of Ford Racing. We stuck together all race and stuck with (Smith) at the end at got a Ford to Victory Lane. Happy to be here. Happy to be in this position with the 88 Menards F-150 and it’s a great way to start off a new partnership and a new era.”

Gio Ruggiero: “Everybody was just trying to do whatever it takes to win and that’s what I did for myself and my team. I probably would’ve pushed John Hunter to the win there, but he just wrecked me twice. I think overall as a group we need to do better as Toyotas. I thought me, Tanner and Taylor (Gray) worked really well together but everybody else just seemed like they were out there on their own. I definitely think we learned some things for the next superspeedway.”

JH Nemechek: “I haven’t seen the whole replay yet, but pretty frustrated with myself. Just hard to cover all of the lanes there – should have got to the middle and blocked  (Ruggiero) faster than I did. Didn’t anticipate it quite as I probably should have off of turn four, but man, it was one heck of a race. I had a lot of fun all night.”

Kaden Honeycutt: “I got to the lead on the back stretch and I was locked on with (Ruggiero) and I guess he bailed and we disconnected and then he tried to block (Nemechek) and he almost got wrecked. And then I got lost in No Man’s Land. … You can't be the leader coming to white. You're just a sitting duck and it's so easy to get locked out. It’s very hard to recover from it. Just didn’t didn't make the right moves at the end of it, I guess.”

Read Also: Chandler Smith wins Daytona Truck race in unreal four-wide finish Tony Stewart: "It was starting to get fun" right before race-ending crash Cleetus McFarland wrecks out, six laps into NASCAR Truck debut at Daytona

This was also the first race of the Chase for the Championship era in the Truck Series with everyone in the top-10 avoiding a major bullet that could deny them a chance to race for the title come the fall. 

“Top five them to death,” Majeski said. “I feel like this format really suits me and what we do. Top five them to death and keep these Menards F-150s in one piece. We can’t afford DNFs early in the year like you could the last format. So that’s our motto – top-5 them to death.”

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Chandler Smith was running sixth entering Turn 3, but he ended the night holding the checkered flag. He didn’t benefit from a wreck, but instead made a dramatic four-wide pass for the lead as the field drag-raced to the finish line. He beat runner-up Gio Ruggiero to the line by 0.044s, and just 0.069s separated the entire top five in the end.

John-Hunter Nemechek had the lead exiting the final corner, but ended up finishing fifth. Ruggiero made an aggressive move to the outside, slamming doors with Christian Eckes. Nemechek tried to defend, chasing them up to the track, and he had no idea that Smith was rapidly approaching with Ty Majeski attached to his rear bumper.

He completed the four-wide pass for the win, and was going so fast that he nearly cleared all three trucks by the time he reached the finish line.

At the line, it was Smith, Ruggiero, Eckes, Majeski, and Nemechek inside the top five. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth, Brenden Queen led the way for Ram's new Truck effort in seventh, Kaden Honeycutt was eighth, Tyler Ankrum ninth, and Stewart Friesen tenth.

What a finish! Chandler Smith wins the NASCAR Truck Series race at Daytona! pic.twitter.com/s5qy9td9v1

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 14, 2026

"First off, I want to shout out all glory to God," said Smith after climbing from the truck. "Without Him, none of this would be possible. And I am super, super grateful that I serve such a loving God that blessed me with such a good group of men and women around me at Front Row Motorsports.

"Ty Majeski, one of my best four teammates I've ever worked with. He is all credit to how we just won that race truthfully. He stayed committed to a Ford and pushed a blue oval to a win.

"Have some people back at home that's struggling a little bit. Rory Smith, buddy, I know we talked about maybe making it to the Daytona 500, but hopefully this does a little better justice for you. Really happy we got a trophy here. This is our first ever NASCAR race, and was debating on if they were going to do more. Hopefully those guys, I know they're raising Cain up in the stands right now, having a great time.

"Just super, super grateful for everybody on this No. 38 Ford F-150 group. We made some changes in the off-season. I felt like last year everybody for the most part knows how this 38 group came together last year, but we built on it and made this group so much better for this year, and I'm so excited for 2026."

As for some other fan favorites, Travis Pastrana placed 15th, Frankie Muniz 16th, while both Tony Stewart and Cleetus McFarland wrecked out in the first half of the race.

Chandler Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford

Stages 1 and 2

The field immediately went three-wide in the season-opener, and it didn't take long for the first caution flag to fly. Just six laps into the race, Cleetus McFarland lost control at the exit of Turn 4, corrected to avoid the field of trucks, and slammed the inside wall to quickly end his NCTS debut.

Hocevar was a dominant force out front, and Stage 1 ended in a thrilling photo finish as he nosed ahead of Tanner Gray, with Christian Eckes third.

Read Also: Cleetus McFarland wrecks out, six laps into NASCAR Truck debut at Daytona

Some other trucks who chose to pit during the first caution cycled to the front during the stage break, but Hocevar quickly found his way to the lead. However, his No. 77 truck then shut off for a moment, but he was able to get out of the way.

Elsewhere in the field, Daniel Hemric fell multiple laps down as he had to pit under green for a broken spoiler brace.

Stage 2 ended under caution, as Jake Garcia lost control at the exit of Turn 4 in a drift like McFarland’s, however, Garcia instead snapped up the track and collected none other than Tony Stewart, who was making his highly anticipated NASCAR return. Both trucks crashed into the outside wall, and Stewart was unable to continue.

Smith won Stage 2 behind the pace car with Layne Riggs second and Ty Majeski third.

Read Also: Tony Stewart: "It was starting to get fun" right before race-ending crash

Stage 3

In the final stage, trouble found Hocevar again as he led the race, cutting a tire. The pack narrowly avoided him, and he spun out once everyone was clear, triggering a caution.

This was right on the edge of the fuel window, and the field got fairly single-file after as many focused on saving what they had in the tank.

There were a flurry of flat tires including Enfinger, Kitzmiller, and Riggs, but the race stayed green.

However, Hocevar lost a tire again, and that was a enough to trigger a yellow flag, ending the fuel-saving for most of the field.

It was a wild battle up front with McDowell taking control. Hocevar, who was no longer on the lead lap, spun himself out off the nose of another truck in his third incident of the night -- but the race stayed green.

With just a few laps to go, a three-truck wreck broke out between Spencer Boyd, Dawson Sutton, and Taylor Gray. It began with a bad bump from Majeski, who earned pole position for this race. Mini Tyrrell also slapped the wall trying to avoid the melee, forcing the race into overtime.

It was Honeycutt vs. McDowell on the front row, but McDowell spun out as the field raced to the white flag. Honeycutt was leading with one lap to go, but got shuffled out as the field started going every which way down the backstretch. Ruggiero nearly got turned at the same time and was below the yellow line before forcing his way back onto the race track.

And what followed was the incredible five-truck battle for the win we just highlighted, with the entire group crossing the line within a tenth of each other -- and still in one piece.

This is Smith's eighth career win as a NASCAR Truck Series driver, and puts him atop the standings to start the year as NASCAR shifts back to the Chase championship format.

2026 NASCAR Truck Daytona Results

cla # driver manufacturer laps time gap laps led

1	38	Chandler Smith	Ford	102	2:06'00.177		8
2	17	Gio Ruggiero	Toyota	102	2:06'00.221	0.044
3	91	Christian Eckes	Chevrolet	102	2:06'00.242	0.065	1
4	88	Ty Majeski	Ford	102	2:06'00.246	0.069	5
5	62	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	102	2:06'00.246	0.069	10
6	45	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	102	2:06'00.305	0.128
7	12	Brenden Queen	RAM	102	2:06'00.500	0.323
8	11	Kaden Honeycutt	Toyota	102	2:06'00.504	0.327	1
9	18	Tyler Ankrum	Chevrolet	102	2:06'00.567	0.390
10	52	Stewart Friesen	Toyota	102	2:06'00.643	0.466
11	5	Nick Leitz	Toyota	102	2:06'00.645	0.468	3
12	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	102	2:06'00.702	0.525
13	44	Andrés Pérez de Lara	Chevrolet	102	2:06'01.029	0.852
14	13	Cole Butcher	Ford	102	2:06'01.278	1.101
15	42	Travis Pastrana	Chevrolet	102	2:06'01.946	1.769	1
16	33	Frankie Muniz	Ford	102	2:06'02.299	2.122
17	10	Daniel Dye	RAM	102	2:06'03.769	3.592
18	95	Clay Greenfield	Chevrolet	102	2:06'04.051	3.874
19	14	Mini Tyrrell	RAM	102	2:06'07.268	7.091
20	22	Josh Reaume	Ford	102	2:06'07.283	7.106
21	76	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	102	2:06'07.892	7.715
22	16	Justin Haley	RAM	102	2:06'10.140	9.963	20
23	15	Tanner Gray	Toyota	102	2:06'59.106	58.929	11
24	7	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	101	2:05'34.327	1 Lap	20
25	81	Kris Wright	Chevrolet	101	2:05'50.342	1 Lap
26	19	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	101	2:06'03.952	1 Lap
27	26	Dawson Sutton	Chevrolet	101	2:06'07.655	1 Lap
28	1	Taylor Gray	Toyota	101	2:06'09.353	1 Lap
29	9	Grant Enfinger	Chevrolet	100	2:06'08.436	2 Laps
30	97	Jason Kitzmiller	Chevrolet	100	2:06'10.852	2 Laps
31	34	Layne Riggs	Ford	98	2:06'04.114	4 Laps	2
32	98	Jake Garcia	Ford	98	2:06'08.802	4 Laps
33	2	Jason White	Ford	98	2:06'41.617	4 Laps
34	75	Corey LaJoie	Chevrolet	92	1:53'03.522	10 Laps
35	77	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	88	1:53'02.638	14 Laps	20
36	25	Tony Stewart	RAM	39	52'36.956	63 Laps
37	4	Cleetus McFarland	Chevrolet	5	4'07.183	97 Laps

 

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