Carson Hocevar addresses drama-filled Atlanta race: ‘We’re here to win races, not be a boy band’

Carson Hocevar had some interesting things to say after finishing second at the Atlanta Motor Speedway NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday. While speaking to reporters, Hocevar was asked if he was happy with his performance despite his aggressive driving late in the race.

“We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play in the playground together,” Hocevar said, per Toby Christie of Racing America. “Obviously, there’s learning lessons. You don’t want to piss anybody off or frustrate anybody. There’s things I would clean up for sure.

“It’s going to come with learning that. …I’m normally 40th waiting for them to crash and hopefully crash and I finish in the teens. To be up front and get stage points both stages and have a shot to win is something to held my head high real much. I’ve always said I’m a really bad superspeedway racer, so this at least gives me a little bit more confidence.”

Hocevar’s aggressive driving led to Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney confronting him. In Lap 234, Hocevar spun Blaney who was near the top of the pack. The good news for Blaney is he suffered no damage to the car and continued to compete.

Carson Hocevar shares more on the Atlanta race

After the race, Carson Hocevar spoke to Regan Smith of FOX Sports about his conversations with Chastain and Blaney. “I’ll just leave those to myself,” Hocevar said, “… I normally ride in the back, and it was trying to get a good, decent finish and for how bad we were at Daytona. … There’s some stuff I gotta clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to try to win a race. I’ve never had that opportunity really before — especially on a superspeedway.”

Hocevar had a strong performance after finishing 30th at the Daytona 500 last week. His P2 finish on Sunday is the second top-five finish in his Cup Series career with his first happening last year when he finished third at Watkins Glen. In 2024, Hocevar finished 21st in the Cup standings and was named Rookie of the Year.

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story