Ross Chastain Says He And Carson Hocevar Are 'Good' But Feels He Had A NASCAR Win Taken Away At Atlanta Motor Speedway
Yesterday at 12:20 PM
By Jerry Jordan, Editor
AUSTIN, Tex. – One week removed from their disagreement at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Ross Chastain said he is good with Carson Hocevar but doesn't think he will be any less aggressive on the racetrack.
Chastain said he focuses on the "business" of racing from Monday to Thursday but on the track, it's different. He knows Hocevar is good but also aggressive – something they both have in common.
"Oh, we’re good because I see it for the bigger picture that Carson is going to be around for a long time because the talent is there to do a lot of great things in the sport," Chastain said. "But I don’t have to agree with how he does things on the track.
"He just took an opportunity for me to win away, so I don’t have to agree with that. He singlehandedly took the No. 1 car out of contention to win in Atlanta and I don’t agree with how he did that."
The dust-up occurred at Atlanta Motor Speedway because Hocevar thought he also had an opportunity to take the checkered flag and, like numerous drivers before him, including Chastain, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, to name a few, he drove with abandon. When the race was over, Hocevar finished second. Ryan Blaney, who Hocevar spun out, rallied back to finish fourth and Chastain finished eighth.
Chastain took Hocevar to task on the frontstretch but told Kickin' the Tires this week that he wasn't giving him driving advice, he was making sure Hocevar understood the business side of racing.
"I didn’t give him any advice and I don’t plan to on how to how to drive his car," Chastain said. "Most all of our conversation was when I was trying to give him some advice about how to handle Monday through Thursday and what he was going to be up against. So, yep, on track, he can do what he wants to, he's his own racecar driver but during the week and then we go race on the weekends."
Hocevar said he only had two, what he termed as "critical" conversations since Atlanta and those were the two he had immediately after he climbed out of the racecar with Blaney and Chastain. He said every other conversation he's had about Alanta Motor Speedway and his performance has been positive.
Hocevar said that one person who was trying to track down his phone number was a NASCAR Hall of Fame member and former driver, Mark Martin. He was known as one of the most respected drivers in the garage.
"I think one of the most shocking was when Mark Martin tried to hunt my phone number down and was tweeting and doing everything right. I mean everybody wanted to be negative about it but the most respectable driver was, you know, giving me a lot of endorsement … For me, everything was positive and you know most-importantly for me, like the only conversations I was interested to see how those conversations were going to have on Monday was, you know, when we talked to Chevrolet and Hendrick and all those were glowingly positive."
The reason Hocevar was worried about the conversations with Hendrick and Chevrolet was because he pushed a Toyota rather than a Chevrolet but, in his defense, it was what he had to do in order to get to the front and have a chance to win.
"So, I’m in a very appreciative spot that they can let me go race and do that and you know, they see the plans and moves and I can just appreciate that just as a competitor that they let me have that freedom.
Hocevar said Martin relayed his praise through crew chief Luke Lambert, saying that the team needed to let him race hard and focus on what he needs to do to get wins for the No. 77 team.
