After several near-wins, Carson Hocevar wins his first career NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday evening in the Jack Links 500.
Hocevar was one of the 16 cars to leave the stage two big one crash with minimal to no damage and restart on the lead lap.
Hocevar and Roush Fenway Keslowski Racing's Chris Buescher battled late, with Hocevar being pushed by Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon. Coming to the checkered flag, Zane Smith and Dillon got connected, sending Dillon into the wall and causing calamity behind the leaders as Hocevar separated and pulled away to victory. Busecher finished second for his best finish at the track ahead of Bowman, who was happy not to crash and record his best finish of the season following his return two weeks ago from his four-race vertigo-induced hiatus.
Iconic. Carson Hocevar celebrates at Talladega hanging out the window. pic.twitter.com/Na2Qf3EPuE
Following his win, it looked as if Hocevar was stuck halfway through his window, when in reality he was trying to situate himself to have control of the wheel and pedal while sitting on the windowsill, waving at fans. He got control of the vehicle moments before it was set to slide into the infield wall and started driving back to the start-finish line. After his parade segment, he crashed into the wall and went throttle-down into a burnout as he continued celebrating with fans.
Hocevar becomes the second first-time winner this year, following Ty Gibbs' win at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago.
Third-place finishing Bowman said it was fitting that Carson got his first win at NASCAR's rowdiest track.
"Glad to get a Chevrolet in Victory Lane there with the nO. 77. Happy for him, he deserves it for sure. It's a perfect place for him to get his first one. So, the Boulevard, do they leave that open tonight? It might burn down with that going on."
This was the third first-time winner of the weekend, with Andy Jankowiak winning his first ARCA race Saturday morning, and Corey Day winning his first O'Reilly Auto Parts' race Saturday afternoon.
The 23-year-old Spire Motorsports driver brought the team its second-ever win, with its first also coming at a restrictor plate track, when Justin Haley won the 2016 summer Daytona date.
Hocevar has been less than a lap away from a victory several times over the last two seasons, usually having the win taken away by his own overly aggressive moves.
Hocevar was leading the final lap of the Daytona 500 this year before being involved in a last-lap crash. The next weekend in Atlanta, he finished fourth after running back to the lead from the back and aggressively battling on multiple overtime finish attempts for a win.