Christopher Bell had a shot at victory Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver lined up on the front row for what looked like the race’s final restart.
He didn’t make it to turn one.
Carson Hocevar hit Bell hard enough to send him into the wall. The young driver tried squeezing between Bell and leader Bubba Wallace — there wasn’t enough room. He found that out the hard way, and so did Bell.
Trouble on the restart … and we’re headed to double overtime! pic.twitter.com/DnpyfN2vcp
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 23, 2026
Clint Bowyer called it immediately from the Fox broadcast booth. The former driver didn’t mince words: Hocevar “wrecked Bell.”
That take split opinions pretty quickly. Plenty of fans and media members praised the 23-year-old for his aggressive racing, arguing he was just doing whatever it took to win.
Hocevar ended up fourth. He also didn’t make any friends among his fellow drivers in the process.
Hamlin’s Had Enough
Denny Hamlin made that clear on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast — and he wasn’t holding back.
NASCAR’s always had young, aggressive drivers. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ross Chastain. Many of them turned into stars.
But Hocevar’s incidents keep piling up, and Hamlin’s patience is wearing thin.
“I thought the TV guys did really well calling a spade a spade right off the bat. They started backing it up a little, because they were like ‘oh, maybe there was a hole.’ (Kevin) Harvick stood firm; he’s like ‘there might have been a hole, but it wasn’t a whole by the time he got there.’ It’s tough to watch … as a competitor, it’s going to come back around.”
One fan suggested Hamlin was just an old dog getting mad at a young pup.
His response was pretty direct.
“Puppies are great, but if they s— in your bed, you gonna just lay in it? Or teach the puppy where to properly take a dump?”
Safe to say, Hamlin’s tired of Hocevar’s style. And he might be the one to teach that lesson himself.