Carson Hocevar didn't make many friends in Atlanta, but he sure was fast. Already holding a reputation as an aggressive driver with raw skill behind the wheel in the NASCAR Cup series, reminded everyone of both in the second round of the 2025 season.
His first reminder came at the end of the first stage when Kyle Busch had to lift to avoid a wreck as Hocevar muscled his way by. Busch then pulled alongside to show his displeasure over the way he was being used on track. Busch's radio wasn't any nicer with Saturday's Truck race winner telling his crew (with multiple f-bombs removed): "Go tell that [expletive] 77 he's done the same move ten times. I don't care if I wreck the whole [expletive] field, I'm over him. He's a [expletive] d-bag. I'm gonna wreck his ass."
As the race went on, the 22-year-old remained one of the most entertaining drivers on track, throwing his car into tight spaces and keeping himself near the front at all times. But it wasn't long before he drew the ire of another Cup champion -- Ryan Blaney. Blaney got turned by Hocevar due to a bad bump entering Turn 1, sending the Penske driver skidding along the apron. He also voiced his frustrations with Hocevar over the radio: "I told you, Timmy [Fedewa, spotter] ... He's just a moron! 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."
Despite the hurt feelings and wild moves, Hocevar kept his car unscathed and remained in contention for what could have been his first ever win at the Cup level. And that's when he had his final ill encounter of the day, involving his fellow Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain, who has been a mentor-type figure to Hocevar in the past.
Chastain lined up on the front row alongside Kyle Larson. Eventual race-winner Christopher Bell was pushing Larson, and Hocevar was behind Chastain. But instead of pushing him, he sent it up the middle as he hoped to give himself a better shot at victory. Chastain drifted back through the pack and finished eighth. Ultimately, the move allowed the outside lane to surge ahead and Bell was able to deny all the Chevrolet drivers the win, claiming all the glory for Toyota.
Post-race convos
Following the race, there was a very animated discussion between Chastain and Hocevar. Blaney immediately followed, going through his own incident with the not-so-popular driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Blaney also doored Hocevar on the cool-down lap before voicing his frustrations afterwards.
"I'll just leave those to myself," said Hocevar when asked about the conversations. "But first off, apologies to Larson and HMS, Mr. H [Rick Hendrick], everybody. 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. I hit the 20 [Bell] to get him out of the way and fill the middle. A little bit longer, maybe we win the race."
Hocevar had pushed Bell ahead of Larson before taking them both three-wide into Turn 3, but the race-ending caution denied us a race to the line. He then admitted that "there's some stuff I got to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to try and win a race. I've never had that opportunity really before, especially on a superspeedway. So, just a big day today for everybody at Spire Motorsports. They deserve all the praise. I just get to hold the wheel and run wide open and just try to put myself in a decent spot. Unfortunately it wasn't the best spot, but it was just is one spot short."
