Carson Hocevar produced his career-best NASCAR Cup finish Sunday in Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Ambetter Health 400, but while the 22-year-old may have been happy, there were some drivers who were not happy with him.
Both Ross Chastain and pole winner Ryan Blaney confronted the Spire Motorsports driver on pit road following the race that Christopher Bell won in overtime.
Blaney, who was in contention for the victory, was angry for an incident on lap 234 of the scheduled 260-lap race. Hocevar shoved Blaney on his Ford’s right rear as the field sped into turn one, which caused Blaney to spin. Blaney kept his Ford on the apron, didn’t hit anything and managed to drive to his pit for fresh tires. However, the incident forced him out of victory contention. He fought back to a fourth-place finish but was furious with Hocevar.
“I wasn’t slowing. He was drafting to me, and he didn’t lift and just gave me a shot when I’m turning into one and it spun me out,” Blaney said. “I was just happy I didn’t hook a right back into everybody and was able to stay on the apron.”
There also were times when Hocevar forced the issue with Chastain when the Trackhouse Racing driver was dueling for the lead. When asked what the two drivers said to him after the event, Hocevar said he would keep the comments to himself.
“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 said. “I have never had that opportunity really before, especially on a big superspeedway.”
Hocevar is in his second full-time season in NASCAR’s Cup series and race winner Christopher Bell said “you know he’s going to be the aggressor.”
“If there’s a hole, he’s going to take it,” Bell said. “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.”
NASCAR Cup Ambetter Health 400
Atlanta Motor Speedway
1. (32) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 266.
2. (26) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 266.
3. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 266.
4. (1) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 266.
5. (34) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 266.
6. (37) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 266.
7. (6) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 266.
8. (33) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 266.
9. (14) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 266.
10. (22) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 266.
11. (7) Zane Smith, Ford, 266.
12. (4) Joey Logano, Ford, 266.
13. (24) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 266.
14. (12) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266.
15. (5) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 266.
16. (15) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
17. (27) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 266.
18. (11) Ryan Preece, Ford, 266.
19. (18) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 266.
20. (19) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 266.
21. (25) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 266.
22. (38) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 266.
23. (30) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 266.
24. (21) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 266.
25. (3) Josh Berry, Ford, Accident, 265.
26. (13) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 265.
27. (16) William Byron, Chevrolet, 263.
28. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 257.
29. (20) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 242.
30. (8) Chris Buescher, Ford, 240.
31. (28) Erik Jones, Toyota, 240.
32. (36) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 201.
33. (29) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 183.
34. (10) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 183.
35. (31) Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 183.
36. (23) Cole Custer, Ford, Accident, 183.
37. (39) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, Accident, 183.
38. (35) Corey LaJoie, Ford, Accident, 149.
39. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 149.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 118.384 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 27 Mins, 37 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.
Caution Flags: 11 for 63 laps.
Lead Changes: 50 among 15 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Blaney 0;A. Cindric 1-23;T. Gilliland 24-25;A. Cindric 26-32;J. Berry 33-42;T. Gilliland 43;J. Berry 44-63;C. Ware 64;J. Logano 65-67;J. Berry 68;J. Logano 69-84;*. McLeod(i) 85;J. Logano 86-91;T. Gilliland 92;J. Logano 93-94;T. Gilliland 95-96;J. Logano 97-107;T. Gilliland 108;J. Logano 109-140;A. Bowman 141-143;J. Logano 144-146;A. Bowman 147;J. Logano 148-157;A. Bowman 158-159;K. Larson 160-163;C. Briscoe 164-168;R. Chastain 169-180;S. Van Gisbergen # 181;R. Chastain 182-188;S. Van Gisbergen # 189;K. Busch 190-192;W. Byron 193-198;K. Busch 199;J. Berry 200-212;K. Busch 213;J. Berry 214;K. Busch 215-217;R. Chastain 218;K. Busch 219-223;R. Blaney 224;R. Chastain 225-226;J. Berry 227-229;R. Chastain 230;J. Berry 231-238;R. Chastain 239;K. Larson 240;A. Cindric 241-257;K. Larson 258-263;R. Chastain 264;K. Larson 265;C. Bell 266.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Joey Logano 8 times for 83 laps; Josh Berry 7 times for 56 laps; Austin Cindric 3 times for 47 laps; Ross Chastain 7 times for 25 laps; Kyle Busch 5 times for 13 laps; Kyle Larson 4 times for 12 laps; Todd Gilliland 5 times for 7 laps; Alex Bowman 3 times for 6 laps; William Byron 1 time for 6 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 5 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen # 2 times for 2 laps; Cody Ware 1 time for 1 lap; * BJ McLeod(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 1 lap; Christopher Bell 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 21,2,24,23,9,45,34,12,77,22
Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,23,22,24,48,45,77,47,2,4