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Ryan Blaney reveals what he said to Carson Hocevar after Atlanta finish

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•02/23/25•

NickGeddesNews

Ryan Blaney
Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Ryan Blaney was irate with Carson Hocevar late in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta and wanted to talk with him about it after the race.

Blaney confronted Hocevar on pit road — right after the latter had been approached by Ross Chastain — and told the second-year driver he needs to “calm down.”

“I just said, ‘Hey, you got to calm down.’ I told him a couple moves he made earlier in the race that were really, really sketchy, obviously me getting spun,” Blaney told Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, via Kelly Crandall of RACER/ESPN. “He should know better than to hit me in that spot. Like, you can’t just run into my bumper as I’m turning into the corner. Like, I’m gonna wreck. So, I just told him, ‘You got to calm down. You got a lot of talent, but you got to be a little bit easier in certain moments and be a little smarter.'”

Carson Hocevar speaks out about controversial finish at Atlanta leading to chats with Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney

It’s not hard to see why Blaney was upset at Hocevar. Blaney was sent spinning by Hocevar on Lap 234 while racing near the front of the pack. Blaney miraculously saved it on the apron with no damage. But on the radio, Blaney had some choice words for Hocevar. FOX captured the exchange between Blaney and his spotter Tim Fedewa.

Blaney: “I told you, Timmy. The 77 [Hocevar]. Absolute Weapon.”

Fedewa: “I know, man. I don’t know what we can do about it. F***, we’ve got to race.”

Blaney: “He’s just a moron. He just runs right into the back of you. Has zero idea of where to bump somebody, where not to, he’s swiping across my bumper as he’s doing it. He just has no idea the whole race.”

Blaney finished fourth while Hocevar was runner-up to race-winner Christopher Bell.

Hocevar, who was going for his first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, admitted there’s some stuff he needs to “clean up a little bit.” He did not, however, reveal anything pertaining to the pit road conversations with Chastain and Blaney.

“I’ll just leave those to myself,” Hocevar told Regan Smith of FOX Sports. “… 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.”