As the NASCAR Cup Series turns its attention to Circuit of the Americas, Christopher Bell has clearly not turned the page on Atlanta. Last Sunday, Bell lined up on the front row for the first overtime restart alongside race leader Bubba Wallace. When the green flag flew, Carson Hocevar split the gap and went three-wide through the middle, a move Bell still has little appreciation for.
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Contact from Hocevar’s No. 77 sent Bell nose-first into the SAFER barrier in Turn 1, leaving his car badly damaged. Bell stayed on track but limped home in 21st place. It marked his second finish outside the top 20 to open the 2026 season, following his crash in the Daytona 500, and leaves him sitting 31st in the points standings ahead of COTA.
Right after the race, Bell bit his tongue and said he had not seen a replay. But a week later, when reporter Jeff Gluck circled back, Bell offered a cold, clipped take. “Yeah, I mean, certainly I’ve gone back and looked at it. So I’ve got my perception of what happened, and he has his. So that’s it.”
Pressed on whether he would speak with the Spire Motorsports Driver, Bell drew a line in the sand.
“Everyone handles situations and conflicts differently, and I have my ways of going about it. And he has his ways of going about it. So that’s what I’ll say on that,” he stated.
A week after the Atlanta overtime incident, @CBellRacing doesn’t have much to say other than he has a different view than @CarsonHocevar (they haven’t spoken). pic.twitter.com/79AxN2o19L
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) February 27, 2026
Hocevar, speaking with Gluck on The Teardown, said he did not reach out to Bell after the overtime clash. From his perspective, it was simply racing. “I don’t know what me saying anything would do for him,” Hocevar said. “If he has to race me harder, me saying anything isn’t really going to change that. I feel like everything is decided on the racetrack, and the rest is just noise.”
Yet Hocevar handled another Atlanta run-in very differently. After tangling with Ryan Blaney and sending the Team Penske driver into the fence, Hocevar reached out to the No. 12 driver via text. He explained that he was fighting the car, kept pounding the wall, and wanted Blaney to understand why it happened.
The Spire driver added that he apologized and explained how the car’s balance forced him to make adjustments on the fly, which led to repeated wall contact in traffic. That said, the way Hocevar ended Bell’s day late in the race likely left Bell wishing he had received a similar message, especially as he now heads to COTA with little margin to spare.
It is still early in the season, but Bell will be focused on stacking points and stage bonuses. He trails points leader Tyler Reddick by 100 markers, and for the No. 20 JGR team, stopping the slide and cashing in is becoming a priority.
There is, however, a blueprint. Bell visited Victory Lane at COTA last season, so repeating that performance is not out of the question. If he is going to halt the skid and get back on the front foot in 2026, the road course in Austin offers a timely opportunity to steady the ship and let the racing do the talking.
