By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
In the world of motorsports, respect from fellow competitors goes a long way. For Carson Hocevar, respect is out the window if a shot of winning is within his grasp, but a chance at racing glory came up short in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Christopher Bell won the race, but the polarizing runner-up finisher Hocevar stole the headlines. After 266 chaotic laps, Hocevar had no friends or any true pat on the back for a career-best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series.
This was a result of several drivers being upset with his overly aggressive driving style that impacted on their results in the long run, but Hocevar’s fuel to the madness goes deep.
Entering Atlanta, Hocevar had a chip on his shoulder after fuel pressure issues plagued him in last Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Rather than biding his own time like he tends to do on superspeedway races, there was none of it as his mission was to battle for the lead. Even if it comes at the expense of several drivers throughout the afternoon.
Towards the end of Stage 1, Kyle Busch was angry at the way Hocevar was driving. Primarily, when Hocevar slid across Busch that resulted in the latter losing track position.
At the conclusion of the stage, Busch flipped Hocevar off and gave him a warning over the radio that he was fed up with his on-track antics.
“Go tell that 77 he’s done that same f—ing move 10 times,” Busch telling his team about Hocevar. “I don’t care if I wreck the whole f—ing field, I’m over him. He’s f—ing douchebag, I’m gonna wreck his ass.”
Fast forward to the end of the race when Hocevar made an enemy out of Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney. The most prolific moment involved Blaney as a battle for fourth went south when Hocevar ran into the back of the No. 12 Ford, resulting in a near save before going into complete spin.
Unlike several drivers who spun and flat spotted their tires, Blaney was able to get the car back into the pits and ultimately finished fourth.
During his pit stop, Blaney told spotter Tim Fedewa that it was a matter of time Hocevar was going to wreak havoc to the detriment of others.
In Blaney’s words, he described Hocevar as an “absolute weapon.”
“He’s just a moron,” Blaney exclaimed over the radio. “He just runs right into the back of you. He has zero idea of where to bump somebody, where not to, he’s swiping across my bumper as he’s doing it. He just has no idea the whole race.”
Hocevar went on to remain up front and when the caution came out to end the race in overtime, he was classified in second, but his best career finish was the last thing people talked about in Atlanta.
The Spire Motorsports racer was confronted by Chastain first, who wasn’t pleased with the way he drove. The civil discussion that ended with a handshake was a topic Chastain refused to tell people, but long story short, he didn’t like Hocevar’s response on the matter.
Immediately after the confrontation by Chastain, Blaney stepped up to the plate and voiced his displeasure before the two parted ways.
Post-race conversations after an eventful @ATLMotorSpdwy race. pic.twitter.com/5f4tQXg8yt
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 24, 2025
“I wasn’t slowing,” Blaney said after the race. “(Carson) was drafting to me and he didn’t lift and just gave me a shot when I’m turning into one and it spun me out. I was just happy I didn’t hook a right back into everybody and was able to stay on the apron.”
When things cooled down, Hocevar didn’t go into details about either conversation but realized he made a rather dubious mistake. A lack of self-awareness as far as the game of helping your fellow car make instead of the competition and racing back to the line.
Coming to the backstretch, Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet ended up pushing the No. 20 Toyota of Bell to the front, taking the lead away from Spire’s ally of Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson.
Hocevar would then thread his way to the middle and made it three-wide, but the caution light had come out and the race was over with Bell celebrating in victory lane.
Immediately after declining to comment about Chastain and Blaney, Hocevar apologized to Hendrick Motorsports on the matter.
“Apologies to Larson, HMS, Mr. H and everybody,” said Hocevar. “They help us out a lot and I didn’t realize we weren’t racing back to the line. The last two nights were kind of that way, and I hit the No. 20 to get him out of the way and filled the middle. A little bit longer and maybe we win the race.”
Last year’s Rookie of the Year recognized he must learn from the matter in Atlanta and clean up his act. But he wouldn’t be remiss by saying that if an opportunity to win a Cup race is there, he’ll put himself in position to do so.
“I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to win the race. I have never had that opportunity really before, especially on a big superspeedway,” said Hocevar. “So just big thanks to Spire Motorsports. They deserve all the praise, and I just get to hold the wheel, run wide open and try to put myself in a decent spot. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best spot but was just one spot short.”
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