Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to caution-free first stage at Atlanta Motor Speedway

The first 60 laps of Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta remarkably went by caution free — and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was loving it.

After Stage 1 came to an end, Earnhardt took to social media to chime in with his thoughts on the weekend at Atlanta.

“This race and track look like a ton of fun this weekend. @NASCAR @ATLMotorSpdwy,” Earnhardt tweeted.

The racing at Atlanta has indeed been exciting, and the tone was set during the Truck Series race Saturday afternoon. Kyle Busch won his 67th Truck race in 176 starts, holding off Stewart Friesen by .017 seconds. Austin Hill triumphed in the Xfinity Series race at night, bringing us to Sunday.

The Fords were the story coming in, showing the most speed during qualifying as they’ve often done in the Next Gen era at the new Atlanta. For the majority of Stage 1, that held true. Josh Berry, who started third, took the stage victory.

But as the stage wore on and handling became an issue for much of the field, the Chevrolets and Toyotas began to make up ground. Drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar had strong finishes to the stage.

Kyle Busch threatens Carson Hocevar at Atlanta

The latter made an enemy out of Busch to close the stage. Busch apparently didn’t take too kindly to Hocevar’s driving, threatening to wreck him while talking to his crew chief and spotter over the radio.

“Go tell that 77 he’s done that same f***ing move ten times,” Busch said. “I don’t care if I wreck the whole f***ing field, I’m over him. He’s a f***ing douchebag, I’m going to wreck his ass.”

With that, Hocevar might want to find a way to stay away from Busch.