WATCH: NASCAR’s Atlanta villain Carson Hocevar wrecks out of Xfinity race at COTA

With action at COTA underway for Xfinity Series drivers, Carson Hocevar, who was labeled as villain by some after a tight move for the checkered flag in Atlanta, hit the outer wall and was done for the day.

Not five laps into the first race of the day, the #14 for Spire Motorsports was hit from behind on turn six by Jeb Burton's #27 and went into the tire wall. This came after Hocevar went into the turn too steep from too far out, and got in the way of Burton's line.

Former NASCAR driver and CW Network analyst for the Xfinity Series, Jamie McMurray, said during the original transmission that he didn't think the crash was Burton's fault:

"I would tell you that Carson opened up his entry on that. Jeb (Burton) probably doesn't want to make contact right there, but you're kinda out of control on both sides. Unfortunately, it put Carson Hocevar hard into the outside barrier," Jamie McMurray said to fellow broadcaster for CW Network Adam Alexander. (min 0:14 onward)

Also, there seemed to be an issue with grip in that section of the racetrack, as per the broadcast:

"That (Hocevar's crash) shows you how little grip is down there, it's old asphalt in that section, so there's less grip when you get on that, and it's just something I think we're going to continually see today," Parker Kligerman said on the CW Network original broadcast (min 0:36 onward)

Having started P24, Carson Hocevar was struggling to get to the front of the grid when the incident happened.

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Carson Hocevar tried to squeeze his way to the checkered flag in Atlanta

Last Sunday, February 23 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Carson Hocevar tried to win the race in the last couple hundred yards in aggressive fashion: driving just behind leaders Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson, he pushed the latter to the inside of the track and squeezed himself to the second place right before the caution that ultimately decided the race.

The move was frowned upon by many but he stood by it, saying that you don't win races by staying behind other drivers.

"Ultimately, I thought that was the best opportunity, you're not going to win the race behind anybody, so... to get the #20 off the middle and get him third lane and roll the middle was a really good opportunity for us to have clean air and ultimately just do the 3-wide drag race the line. Unfortunately, the ranks behind, which I had no idea about.. and yeah, just unfortunate," Carson Hocevar said to Matt Weaver and members of the media after the Atlanta race (min 0:01 onward)

Hocevar will have another chance to take the checkered before anyone else on March 2, for he starts P4 at COTA: a priceless opportunity for him to show the NASCAR world he can win on the big stage.