On the one hand, it was full Carson Hocevar experience in Atlanta, where he was going to take any gap that presented itself, but he also acknowledged after the race that he probably had some apologies to make as well.
It was an adventure there:
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His race started with a flat tire in the top five and lost a lap on pit road. He started racing against the leaders only to stay one lap behind, but his right side window blew out and lost another lap.
He scored two free passes to get back into the lead lap, earning stage points from the second stage. Joey Logano spun with 22 laps to go. Hocevar is one of the few to use four tires and the added maneuverability brings him forward.
Race for victory in the penultimate round, Christopher Bell is placed against the wall of his bumper. He got hooked on the final restart and ultimately finished fourth and restarted fourth in the first championship standings.
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Incidents with Logano and Bell
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
“I turned Joey, I didn’t want to do that,” Hocevar said. “He got stuck in dirty air? That’s my running excuse, like it wasn’t my fault, but it definitely was. I looked in the mirror the whole time and thought I calculated my gap ahead. I just missed it and I owe him a gift card.”
He received a push from Ross Chastain behind him when he entered Bell. A second hypothesis?
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“I probably could have slowed down,” he said. “I felt like the Toyotas were going to hold the lanes and I felt like if they got lazy and left the middle open, I’d be really aggressive and try to fill it. I saw it for a split second right when I had a huge run and it looked like there was just enough when I got there. I went for it, it was in my mind, and by the time I got there or by the time it noticed it, I don’t even need to see it, I’m sure it was closed.
“I have no intention of ending their day or destroying their car. I just felt like it was in my best interest to separate the Toyotas from their best chance there.”
Bell hadn’t seen the replay either.
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“I didn’t see it,” Bell said. “I’m going to keep my mouth shut until I see a replay. Yeah.”
Bell thought Hocevar was going to push him in front of Wallace.
“That’s what was communicated to me but you never expect anything, especially from him and, again, I haven’t seen a replay and maybe there was a gap there and that’s what he thought he was doing. I don’t know.”
Hocevar had two top 5 finishes between the Truck and Cup races and ultimately called this weekend’s race a video game.
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“I felt like truck racing didn’t hurt, especially without training,” he said. “You have to run with aggression and confidence. It’s like a video game and I play it a lot. The confidence is really big here and it worked today.”
Read also:
23XI Racing in top form after Tyler Reddick sweeps first two NASCAR races
Shane van Gisbergen spins twice to still claim career-best Oval Cup result
Tyler Reddick wins wild Atlanta Cup race without mudguards
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