Carson Hocevar‘s aggressiveness during the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway was a top talking point, especially after he wrecked Christopher Bell, nearing the end of the race. Although NASCAR felt to let him go for incidental conduct, the latest conversation from Bell’s team radio shows otherwise.

Hocevar’s aggressive conduct on Bell at Atlanta

Renowned NASCAR journalist Steven Taranto shared a video on his X account, showing the conversation between Bell and his crew chief, Adam Stevens.

Nearing the end of the race, Bell was leading from Hocevar and the pack, and this was when Stevens said on the radio:

“About a quarter of you. He’s getting a boost now. Watch him inside.”

Just when the race restarted, the #77 pushed the #20 from behind, leaving Stevens, Bell, and team JGR stunned. Following this, the crew chief stated:

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“What an idiot. There wasn’t even a hole. He just drove into the left rear of you.”

Bell’s crew chief wasn’t done as he slandered the Spire driver once again. He said, “Alright, man. Did everything you could do. Can’t defend against that dumba–.”

As Carson Hocevar plowed his car into Christopher Bell, the latter lost control of his car and slammed into the outside wall, damaging his front left. The wreck not only hampered Bell and ended his chance for victory, but it also included numerous other drivers, as many as five.

In the end, Bell limped to a 21st-place finish, while Hocevar had a much better result — 4th. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver refrained from targeting Hocevar in the post-race interview. He said,

“Unfortunately, you got me a little too early because I haven’t seen it. So I’m gonna keep my mouth shut until I see a replay. I haven’t seen the replay. Maybe there was a hole there, and that’s what he thought he was gonna try and do. I don’t know.”

Interestingly, Hocevar admitted his misjudgement.

Carson Hocevar owned his Atlanta antic

In the post-race interview, Carson Hocevar shared that he misjudged the gap near Bell and hit him in the process. Driving and taking the slipstream, Hocevar just ploughed his #77 Chevrolet on Bell’s Toyota.

“I got such a big run, and he kind of opened it,” Hocevar said. “And as I got there, I felt like there was a hole, but I got there so fast that, I’m sure it was by all means closed by the time I got there. So, I mean, I don’t mean to tear them [Bell] up, obviously. But at the same time, I felt like that move was probably going to win us the race last year, and it just happened in the same car. So I felt like if I got an opportunity.”

The wreck opened up the opportunity for Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, and Tyler Reddick, and in the end, the #45 driver claimed the victory. With this, he secured back-to-back Cup Series wins in 2026. Briscoe came home in second, ahead of Ross Chastain.