To say Kyle Busch was not pleased with how Carson Hocevar raced at Atlanta on Sunday would be a terrible understatement. The two-time Cup Series champion went on an extensive rant to his crew on the team radio during the race, complaining about the youngster. However, fans could see one thing he could not: Hocevar was who Busch used to be.
Advertisement
The #77 Spire Motorsports driver made a few enemies on the track. But none of them were as pissed as Busch. He said on the radio, “Go tell that #77 he’s done that same f****** move 10 times. I don’t care if I wreck the whole f****** field. I’m over him. He’s a f****** douchebag. I’m going to wreck his ass.”
Hocevar has always been categorized as an aggressive driver. In Atlanta, he made sure to live up to that. While Busch was understandably angry at him for nearly collapsing his efforts multiple times, fans on social media remembered that the Richard Childress Racing superstar was a similarly aggressive driver back in the day.
Which is why they found his anger against Hocevar funny. One comment on X said, “Kyle was THAT guy 15 years ago!” Another added, “I love KB but he’s mad at his younger self ” The similarity was uncanny for a fan who wrote, “Pot meet kettle.” Busch’s words did not end there.
Crash out Kyle Busch is so funny
— Real Deal Aneil (@realdealAneil) February 23, 2025
“He wasn’t even clear on me!”
Speaking to Dustin Long from NBC Sports after the race, Kyle Busch detailed his anger against Hocevar. He said, “He just had a lot of, lot of, lot of close calls. I mean, he wasn’t even clear on me, I had to lift and he put me in the fence off of two in the first stage. So, he’s just trying to plug holes and doing it last second and last minute, and creating log jams on back.”
“It’s just, do it at the end, you know, do it in the last 30 laps, not in the first 230.” All that said, the former champion did express an understanding of why the youngster raced the way he did. His car was fast on the day and he had to make aggressive moves to separate himself from the pack. Unfortunately, that did not please everyone.
Hocevar is one of the most talented youngsters in NASCAR. It is his aggressiveness and fearlessness that makes him so good. Undoubtedly, he will become more mature and wiser as time progresses. Until then, it is up to someone like Busch — a senior veteran — to keep him grounded.
Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson were among the other drivers he managed to make enemies out of. Hocevar finished the race in second place, with Larson and Blaney following in third and fourth respectively. Busch came home in seventh place.
