NASCAR drivers approach Carson Hocevar after his aggressive racing at Atlanta
Carson Hocevar earned the best finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career, but not without agitating his competitors.
Hocevar, who came in second place after overtime in Sunday’s race at Atlanta, felt confident to put together a strong run following another disappointing result on a superspeedway to open the season. He’d picked the brain of Jeff Dickerson about this style of racing, and the Spire Motorsports co-owner reiterated his confidence in him and encouraged his driver to just ride.
The 22-year-old Cup Series sophomore made numerous aggressive moves while riding to his first podium finish.
Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain both approached Hocevar on pit road post-race. Hocevar had made contact with Blaney to send him spinning earlier in the final stage, and the driver of the No. 12 Ford worked his way back to a fourth-place finish.
Hocevar didn’t reveal the wisdom he received from the veteran drivers, celebrating his best Cup Series run and even joking that he and Chastain discussed “the triple dipper at Chili’s” and suggesting he’d invite his competitor to the chain that sponsors his team for further conversation.
“We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play on the playground together,” Hocevar said. “There are obviously learning lessons, you don’t want to piss anybody off or frustrate anybody, and there are things I would clean up. Again, I’m normally 40th, waiting for them to crash and hoping they crash and I finish in the teens. So to be up front, get stage points in both stages and have a shot to win is something to hold high.
“I’ve always been a really bad superspeedway racer. This gives a little bit more confidence.”
‘He’s going to be the aggressor’
NASCAR ended Sunday’s race by throwing a caution after Kyle Larson had taken the white flag in overtime.
Josh Berry spun farther back in the field, starting a wreck that took out seven cars. NASCAR officials said earlier Sunday that a caution on the final lap would end the race, a change from Saturday’s Xfinity Series race that saw Austin Hill race his competitors to the checkered flag despite a crash.
Just before that carnage ensued, Larson was battling eventual winner Christopher Bell for the lead. Hocevar came up and made it three-wide, helping secure his career-best finish as the caution came out.
“(Hocevar) has been around enough now that you know he’s going to be the aggressor,” Bell said. “If there’s a hole, he’s going to take it. If there’s not a hole, he’s going to make one. He ultimately gave me the shove to pass or break through to lead the side draft tandem with myself and Kyle (Larson) down the back straightaway.
“Then I didn’t realize Kyle had opened up the bottom like he did getting into three and allowed Carson to sneak middle of three wide, but I was looking in my mirror, and I saw them crashing. I figured it was a matter of winning the side draft battle to the yellow flag. I felt like I had it whenever the yellow came out, but you never know until they make it official.”
‘It takes losing one to win one’
This is far from the first time Hocevar has become infamous for this kind of racing.
Hocevar wrecked regular-season series champion Corey Heim in the 2023 Truck Series finale at Phoenix, when another crash ended up collecting fellow contender Grant Enfinger, leading to Ben Rhodes’ unlikely second career title.
In addition to his dealings with Blaney and the leaders down the stretch in Sunday’s race, he also drew the ire of Kyle Busch earlier in the day. The Richard Childress Racing veteran threatened to wreck the young driver in a radio clip that made rounds on social media.
Hocevar wasn’t the driver who got to park his car in Victory Lane on Sunday night. But his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet has only been running faster — and whether everyone likes it or not, Hocevar has a Top Five finish to show for it.
“Ultimately, I’m glad I’ve lost one now, because it takes losing one to win one,” Hocevar said. “Talk about progress and the journey, hopefully this is a quick ‘lose one’ and then ‘win one’ real soon.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "NASCAR drivers approach Carson Hocevar after his aggressive racing at Atlanta."
