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Kyle Busch Names 'Biggest Problem' With Rival NASCAR Driver

Originally posted on The Spun | By Tzvi Machlin | Last updated Mar 20, 2025 11:57 AM ET

NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch ranks among the best drivers that the sport has but he doesn't get along perfectly with all of his opposing drivers.

Chief among the drivers Busch doesn't like right now is 22-year-old Carson Hocevar. In just his second season as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Hocevar earned the ire of Busch during a run-in at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Busch was asked about their little confrontation in an interview with Kevin Harvick on FOX. He explained that the biggest problem he has with Hocevar is that he doesn't apologize after his aggressive driving causing him to strike other drivers.

Busch recalled an incident years ago in Michigan where Hocevar sideswiped him and never apologized. He attributed Hocevar's behavior to the young driver never being "under someone's wing" while growing in the sport.

“So, the Hocevar problem, the biggest problem I have with him is when he was 13, 14 years old whatever it was, I was racing at one of his home tracks in Michigan with a super late model while I was a Cup guy,” Busch said. “… It was Kalamazoo. Lap 8, Lap 11 somewhere early in the race, like, I wasn’t that great but I was going to bide my time and I was just riding, right? Like, you ride. He comes right up alongside of me, sideswipes me, puts me into the frontstretch fence, and goes on. And I’m like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ Never nothing after the fact, never a sorry, ‘Hey, my bad.’ Like, same thing right now. He hasn’t learned not one thing because he hasn’t been under someone’s wing this entire time.”

Busch has made it clear for years that he's not a big fan of the younger generation of drivers. Hocevar seems to have all the qualities that he doesn't like in a rival driver.

Hocevar has a reputation for being an aggressive driver that dates back to his time in the NASCAR Truck Series. Combine that with his age and less than 50 races in the NASCAR Cup Series and you have the perfect recipe for a driver that Busch won't be getting along with for the foreseeable future.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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