Hocevar earns career-best finish but has some explaining to do
Today at 09:03 PM
Carson Hocevar earned a NASCAR Cup Series career-best finish Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway but was left having to explain himself afterward.
Hocevar, who was running fourth, made it three-wide with two laps to go by splitting the middle of Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain going into Turn 3. The move initially didn't propel the Spire Motorsports driver far, as he was third at the white flag. But Hocevar got a run from the outside lane off Turn 2 on the final lap that he used to shove Bell clear into the race lead over Kyle Larson.
In Turn 3, Hocevar cut left and forced himself between Bell and Larson to fight for the lead as the race-end caution came out. Hocevar was scored second at the time of caution in the finishing order.
"I was hoping that stayed green," Hocevar said. "It seemed like that was the new normal based off the 500 and . Obviously I had no idea they were wrecking, so in hindsight, try not to push a Toyota past a Chevy. But at the same time, we hit him enough to get him off his lane and open up the middle, which is exactly where I wanted to be. Unfortunate result, but ultimately you put yourself in a spot to win the race."
Chastain was the first driver who wanted to talk to Hocevar after the race, and the two ended up away from the crowd on pit road by going into the grass. Chastain declined – to the radio broadcast – to give insight on what the conversation was about. Hocevar also didn't share details.
"Sometimes you agree and disagree things," Hocevar said of his mentor. "Ultimately I made the decision to win the race, and I think we'll be able to continue to talk about it because, obviously, we have each other's phone numbers."
Ryan Blaney was the second driver to speak to Hocevar. With 27 laps to go, the No. 77 tagged Blaney going into Turn 1, getting the Team Penske driver out of shape. Blaney tried hanging onto his sideways Ford Mustang but wound up spinning.
Blaney didn't mince words on his team radio after the incident. The 2023 series champion called Hocevar a “weapon” and a “moron” and dug in on Hocevar having no idea when to bump another driver and when not to.
"I just said, 'Hey, you got to calm down," Blaney said of his post-race conversation with Hocevar. "I told him a couple of moves that he made earlier in the race were really, really sketchy. Obviously I was getting spun. He should know better than to hit me in that spot. He can't just run into my bumper as I'm turning into the corner; I'm going to wreck. I just told him that, ‘You got to calm down; you got a lot of talent, but you got to be a little bit easier in certain moments. Be a little smarter.’"
Hocevar saw that Blaney was able to rebound for a fourth-place finish. Admittedly, Hocevar knows there are things he can clean up, but he said it was the first time he's run up front on a superspeedway where he was pushing and mixing it up. There were things he did right and others he did wrong.
In the moments before the contact with Blaney, Hocevar was worried about defending the middle lane. He was not square on Blaney's bumper when he hit him.
"I thought I could hit him pretty hard," Hocevar said. "That was the first time I've probably lined up a Chevy nose with a Ford , and it just got him in a really bad spot. It's 100 percent on me."
Hocevar earned 41 points in Sunday's race, the second-most of the field. By finishing second, he tied for the best finish for Spire Motorsports since it's been a full-time Cup Series team.
