Carson Hocevar fires back at Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, haters ahead of COTA

Following a controversial weekend at Atlanta, Carson Hocevar is back for more NASCAR Cup Series action and has a new shirt. When Hocevar spoke after the Atlanta race, he talked about the criticism he was facing from other drivers.

On pit road, Carson Hocevar was open and honest. He apologized for upsetting folks but didn’t back down, either. Given his history as an aggressive driver and success in doing it, I’d expect Hocevar to change nothing about how he races.

“We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play in the playground together,” Hocevar said after the race last week. Now he has a new shirt with all proceeds going to charity.

pic.twitter.com/cEcOMbpJIJ

— Carson Hocevar (@CarsonHocevar) February 28, 2025

So, did Carson Hocevar learn his lesson or is it more of the same moving forward? I’m not sure there is much that Hocevar has to apologize for. Kyle Busch was furious with how the Spire Motorsports driver was racing him in the first stage. But he didn’t wreck anyone.

Ryan Blaney has a real gripe with Hocevar. Because he did spin Blaney. The fact that the 12 car finished P4 is amazing given the fact he was spun out in what felt like the closing laps of the race.

I’m sure that Carson Hocevar’s Cup Series mentor Ross Chastain won’t love this. But fans are going to embrace it if this keeps up. They want drivers to move each other, be aggressive, leave it all on the track.

Carson Hocevar playing a dangerous game

Of course, being a funny, aggressive, and young driver can be a good thing. But things can go south quickly. Depending on which driver Carson Hocevar pisses off will depend on how this plays out moving forward. Ask Noah Gragson how it goes trying to be the fiery new guy in the series. He got popped by Ross Chastain.

Kyle Busch is also not one to mess with. If Hocevar finds himself in an incident with Busch this season, things could get physical quickly. Last year at COTA, Christopher Bell was cowering a bit while Busch chewed into him for a minute or so.

Last week the over-aggression worked. It earned Hocevar a P2 finish and if the race had gone green, he may have walked away with his first career Cup Series win. Law of averages says that his style of driving is going to get him in a couple of incidents throughout the season.

Does Carson Hocevar have to change his driving style? Or should the rest of the Cup Series learn to deal with it?