HAMPTON, Ga.—If Carson Hocevar hopes to earn the respect of his peers, he has a long way to go in the NASCAR Cup Series.
No doubt the 22-year-old racer has plenty of speed. Hocevar finished a career-best second on Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
But the competitors waiting to speak with the driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet were not there to offer congratulations to Hocevar following his first podium finish of 2025.
His mentor, Ross Chastain, was first in line. The conversation was measured, far from heated, yet lengthy. While Chastain refused to address his beef, when asked by the Performance Radio Network if he was satisfied with Hocevar’s response, the driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Chevrolet simply replied, “No.”
Not only was Hocevar overly aggressive on the track with the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet, but Chastain was leading the race when the No. 77 turned Ryan Blaney entering Turn 1 with 25 laps remaining in the race.
Blaney was in the inside lane entering the corner. Without someone to push him, he had dropped from second or third to fourth when Hocevar hit the No. 12 Ford on the right rear corner, sending Blaney spinning onto the apron. Although Blaney is usually animated on the radio, he calmly referred to the 77 as “an absolute weapon” and “just a moron.”
After a quick stop for tires and repairs, Blaney returned to the track. Remarkably, his car was still fast enough to claw his way from 25th to a fourth-place result over the final 28 laps.
“He was drafting to me and he didn’t lift and just gave me a shot when I’m turning into (Turn) 1 and it spun me out.,” Blaney said after just exiting his car. “I was just happy I didn’t hook a right back into everybody and was able to stay on the apron.”
Blaney was the second of three NASCAR Cup champions Hocevar aggravated on Sunday. The first was Kyle Busch. Sixty laps into the Ambetter Health 400 while battling for 11th, Hocevar squeezed the three-time champ from the inside line.
Busch shot Hocevar the bird and relayed to his spotter, “Go tell that 77 he’s done that same (expletive) move 10 times. I don’t care if I wreck the whole (expletive) field. I’m over him. He’s a douchebag and I’m going to wreck his ass.”
To further complicate the political landscape, Busch won the Atlanta truck race driving for Hocevar’s owners at Spire on Saturday. For the last decade, Busch mentored many rising superstars, including two-time Daytona 500 winner William Byron and Sunday night’s victor Christopher Bell. Although he can be a harsh critic at times, a driver with 63 Cup wins, 232 national wins and two decades of experience knows whereof he speaks.
Busch told NBC Sports the sophomore Cup racer, who graduated to NASCAR’s top tour following three seasons and four wins in the truck series, has had way too many close calls.
“He wasn’t even clear on me,” Busch said. “I had to lift, and he put me into the fence off of (Turn) 2 in the first stage.
“He’s trying to plug holes and do it last second and last minute, creating logjams on back. Do it at the end. Do it in the last 30 laps not in the first 230.”
Christopher Bell (left), Carson Hocevar (center) and Kyle Larson (right) come across the finish line three-wide under yellow. Bell was the leader at the time of the caution at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 23, 2025 in Hampton, Georgia.. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images)
Third-place finisher Kyle Larson could have been the third driver to join the Hocevar reception line, but the 2021 champion is traditionally non-confrontational. Larson had the lead when the race went into overtime with Chastain on the inside and Hocevar behind him.
On the last lap, it’s every driver for himself, and Hocevar pushed Chastain low and moved to the middle for third as Bell and Larson battled for the lead. He then slammed Bell, who was on the top line, and turned into the right rear of the Larson’s car to force a hole between the two drivers coming into Turn 3.
Hocevar seized the lead momentarily just as NASCAR called the 11th caution of the race after Josh Berry crashed. Bell had held the point at the moment of caution and was declared the winner once the finish was reviewed.
In 46 previous starts, Hocevar had just one top-five result. Certainly, Sunday night was the closest he had flirted with a win. But rather than reflect on his result, his initial sentiment was contrite.
“First off, apologies to (Kyle) Larson, HMS (Hendrick Motorsports), Mr. Hendrick and everybody,” Hocevar said. “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 (Bell) to get him out of the way and filled the middle.
“A little bit longer and maybe we win the race…I normally ride in the back and run last, so I was just trying to get a good, decent finish. For how bad we were at Daytona, I was not riding. But, yeah, there is some stuff I have to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to win the race.”
Hocevar’s potential is immense. No, he doesn’t have to be friends with the competition, but they can make his life difficult on and off of the track. In racing, respect is mutual and only returned when earned. For young drivers such as Hocevar, the sooner they learn to race with respect, the more successful their tenure will be in the sport.
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
A veteran journalist with 30 years on the motorsports beat. In addition to CATCHFENCE.com, Spencer is the lead post-race reporter for SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Weekend co-host. Driven to break stories for a 24/7 news cycle. Able to anticipate and identify trends within the sport and follow up through reporting to create concise, compelling stories. Abundant contacts and dependable sources provide a constant flow of leads and exclusive opportunities with athletes, teams, sponsors and sanctioning bodies. Covered a variety of racing series, pavement and dirt, throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
