The first stage of racing in Atlanta did not witness a wreck, but it saw some fiery clashes between drivers, which NASCAR veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr predicted in a somewhat prophetic pre-race tweet. With 11 cautions and an overtime finish, the race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway was certainly a thriller.
There was a lot of hard driving at the Atlanta Motor Speedway NASCAR Cup Series race, especially from drivers Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar. Being young and aggressive, Hocevar tends to drive on the wild side, which rubbed Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch the wrong way.
Dale Earnhardt Jr Predicted an Entertaining Race by Carson Hocevar
Earlier in the day, Earnhardt posted on his X (formerly Twitter), “Just leave a camera on @CarsonHocevar, and we will all be entertained today. Man the racing in the middle of the pack is wild. The onboard roof cameras are great for races like today also.”
Just leave a camera on @CarsonHocevar and we will all be entertained today. Man the racing in the middle of the pack is wild. The onboard roof cameras are great for races like today also.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) February 23, 2025
He added, “Man this racetrack has something special. I’m tensed up! What these drivers are doing is so mentally tough. Feels like everything is on edge.”
Hocevar’s bold racing style has stirred up quite a few problems for the young driver in the past. Last year, he got fined $50,000 and penalized 25 points for wrecking Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville Superspeedway. However, the Spire Motorsports driver impressed Earnhardt when he stormed out to an aggressive start, jumping from the 26th spot into the top 10 in the early stages of the race.
Talking to NASCAR.com earlier this month, Hocevar said, “It might explain sometimes when I do dumb things or make mistakes, but a lot of times, it’s literally just going off instinct and doing everything and literally being on autopilot. That’s why I want to race every day of my life, just because the more I can be on that autopilot, the better I think I am.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell ultimately won the race despite not starting or running inside the top 10 until the last 30 laps. His results were a good reason why Dale Jr. had already predicted that the race quality in Atlanta would be very entertaining.
