Has Ross Chastain talked to Carson Hocevar since last weekend?
“No.”
Any additional thoughts on what happened at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the contents of their conversation on the infield grass?
“I think I’m still disappointed.”
Chastain, taking questions during his assigned media availability on Saturday morning at Circuit of the Americas, just nodded his head after that.
“Still disappointed in the decisions.”
And then after a brief pause, and a laugh.
“Because I lost.”
Hocevar and Chastain were amongst those racing for the win last weekend in the drafting rules race at the Hampton, Georgia intermediate superspeedway hybrid. Hocevar made several aggressive moves but also chose not to push Chastain, which may have stalled both of their momentum in the closing laps.
Chastain spoke about his disappointment earlier in the week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, too.
“All of his moves almost worked,” Chastain said. “He almost won. That’s great. I just don’t think it was what was best. Definitely wasn’t the best for me at that moment, I lost a chance to win the race because of him and I want to understand why he did that. He told me the reason, and I don’t have to agree with it.”
Chastain was asked that morning if he heard what he wanted to from Hocevar in that moment.
“No sir.”
All of these short answers are generally typical of Chastain, who despite his previous hard driving reputation also shies away from public controversy. He doesn’t like to delegate his business through the media, which is why he waved over Hocevar for a private conversation at Atlanta in the first place.
The wave and then conversation can be found in the videos below.
Hocevar is also represented by Motorsports Management International, an agency in which Chastain is a managing partner, and the two have a really close friendship off the track. Once Chastain and Hocevar shook hands, Ryan Blaney also wanted to have a conversation with the second-year driver.
During his own media availability, Hocevar said he hasn’t spoken to either driver that was frustrated with him in Hampton but had varying levels of feelings towards both.
“I owe an apology to Blaney,” Hocevar said. “Obviously, it worked out for him, so that conversation was quick because he wasn’t as mad because he finished right next to me and had a shot to win. But that’s something I should have known, and I second-guessed. I went to block (William Byron), and with that, I didn’t slow down as much. It was a misjudgment, and I obviously apologize for that.”
As for Chastain, Hocevar isn’t backing down on the decisions he made in trying to win the race.
“Being aggressive, you don’t have many friends when you’re the new guy up front,” Hocevar said. “My teammates had issues of their own, and I didn’t have guys I could bank on. So, I had to fight and claw, and with that, I had to be aggressive and make some drivers uncomfortable. But at the same time, besides (Blaney), I’m not sure who we 100 percent hit other than filling really tight holes and pinch and aero block and play offense and defense. This car rewards being aggressive.”
Josh Berry was one of those that got door slammed.
“Obviously, we had a shot to win the race, and I was, I think, the most aggressive,” Hocevar said. “So, the end result means if you play aggressively and you have a really fast car, you can take advantage of being aggressive. So, being able to balance that out so that I don’t have to apologize to (Blaney) next time is the thing that I could clean up, and it’s one less of a mistake.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
