“If there's not a hole, he's going to make one”: Christopher Bell delivers striking verdict about ‘aggressor’ Carson Hocevar

Christopher Bell took his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday with Carson Hocevar in second and Kyle Larson in third. While Hocevar secured his career-best finish in Atlanta, he did so by making more adversaries than friends on the track. Bell recently spoke about Hocevar's driving style, stating that he forces his way through cars even if there is no space for him to go forward.

Hocevar in his No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet upset quite a few drivers on Sunday. The first one was Kyle Busch, who got pushed into the fence by Hocevar exiting Turn Two in the first stage costing the RCR driver several positions. Busch even came over on the in-car team radio and threatened to wreck Hocevar while expressing his frustration with the #77 car.

Hocevar also pushed 2023 Cup Series champion and pole-sitter Ryan Blaney while entering into a corner in the final stage that led to the No.12 driver spinning out and ruining his chances of victory. Hocevar even managed to upset his iRacing mentor Ross Chastain when he left the No. 1 driver without a draft in the closing stages of the race resulting in an eighth-place finish for Chastain.

Both Chastain and Blaney were seen having a private conversation with Hocevar after the race. Race winner Christopher Bell also shared his thoughts on Hocevar's aggression saying that he's built enough of a reputation for being aggressive.

"He's been around enough now that you know he's going to be the aggressor. If there's a hole, he's going to take it. If there's not a hole, he's going to make one," Christopher Bell told FOX Sports.

However, Bell also acknowledged that it was the aggressive push from Hocevar on the last lap that broke the side-draft with Kyle Larson and ultimately helped him win the race.

"He ultimately gave me the shove to pass or break through to lead the side draft tandem with myself and Kyle down the back straightaway. Then I didn't realize Kyle had opened up the bottom like he did getting into [Turn] 3 and allowed Carson to sneak middle of three-wide," Bell added.

With all the backlash, Hocevar acknowledged that he needed to learn from these mistakes but maintained that he was here to race and not to make friends.

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Christopher Bell had not picked Atlanta as a potential winning track

Christopher Bell has made it clear several times in the past that he is not particularly fond of racing at Superspeedways. So winning the Ambetter Health 400 in Atlanta was a surprise for the 30-year-old JGR driver. He started the race on the back of the field in P32 after a disappointing qualifying on Saturday.

However, he moved forward as the race progressed and found himself in the battle for victory in the closing stages of the 400-mile race. He eventually won the race as he was leading the three-way battle on the final lap of the overtime restart when the caution came out. Speaking with Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast, Bell revealed that he did not think Atlanta would be a track where he would win.

"You know how hard the season can be starting off with Daytona and Atlanta back to back. Fortunately, getting a win in the first two races is always amazing, but to do it at Atlanta which is definitely not one that I had circled as a potential win, is something that is gonna hopefully carry forward,” Christopher Bell shared (0:50 onwards).

This victory means that Bell has qualified for the playoffs and can now go about racing in the regular season without that added pressure.