Carson Hocevar issues a public apology to $1,000,000,000-worth Rick Hendrick after Atlanta chaos

Carson Hocevar apologized to $1 billion worth Rick Hendrick following Sunday’s (Feb 23) NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He said he didn’t know they weren’t racing back to the line and that he had gotten in between Christopher Bell and Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson to “fill the middle”.

Hocevar’s P2 finish in the Ambetter Health 400 was indeed the best of his career. However, he was called aside by many of his fellow racers for a chat, including Ross Chastain and former series champion Ryan Blaney.

Carson Hocevar kept mostly mum about those conversations during his interview with Regan Smith of FOX Sports and said,

“First off, apologies to Larson and HMS and Mr. H (Rick Hendrick). They help us out a lot, and I didn’t realise we weren’t racing back to line. The last two nights were kinda that way. I hit the No. 20 to get him out of the way and fill the middle.“

When the caution came out on the final lap, Carson Hocevar was chasing Bell down, just ahead of Larson’s No. 5 Chevy. Some would view his moves as aggressive but one thing is clear, a little longer under green, and perhaps Hocevar could have won the race.

“There's some stuff I gotta 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,” the 22-year-old driver added.

Bell went ahead and won his first race of the season, thus screwing his position in the playoffs alongside William Byron, who won last week at Daytona. The drivers will now prepare for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, scheduled for March 1 (FOX, 3:30 pm ET) at Circuit of The Americas.

“Lot of close calls”- Kyle Busch lets his thoughts be known on “bold” Carson Hocevar

Carson Hocevar made his fellow drivers mad with his racing antics at Atlanta. One of them was Ryan Blaney, who pulled no punches, calling him a “moron”. Hocevar’s driving left two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch going on about him as well.

The way Busch saw it, Hocevar had an extremely fast car, thanks to the No. 77 team at Spire Motorsports. However, the young driver should have known better and separated his car from the rest of the pack, given how tight the racing at Atlanta has come to be following the 2021 revamp.

“He just had a lot of, lot of, lot of close calls,” Busch told NBC Sports. “I mean, he wasn’t even clear on me, I had to lift and he put me in the fence off of two in the first stage. So, he’s just trying to plug holes and doing it last second and last minute, and creating log jams on back. It’s just, do it at the end, you know, do it in the last 30 laps, not in the first 230.”

“Give benefit but it’s also just circumstantial of where we’re all at in today’s age with the cars. We’re all given the same stuff and he’s making a lot of bold moves to just try to make the most of it,” Busch further added.

Some might argue that making so many enemies only two races in isn’t the best way for Carson Hocevar to approach his second full season in Cup. However, it’s true that when about 40 cars compete for that one cherished trip to the victory lane, chances of contact just go through the roof.