Carson Hocevar ruffled feathers en route to career-best finish at Atlanta

Carson Hocevar earned the best finish of his young NASCAR Cup Series career on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but he ruffled plenty of feathers along the way. 

Hocevar has always been an aggressive driver going back to his time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he was the subject of many incidents of rough driving. In his rookie season in the Cup Series, he was penalized after spinning Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville Superspeedway. 

In order to win at drafting-style racetracks such as Atlanta, you have to be aggressive, and Hocevar was on Sunday. 

The second-year driver finished runner-up to Christopher Bell in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta after a series of aggressive moves, including one that gave Hocevar a chance to win had the race stayed green. 

When the yellow flew on the final lap, Hocevar was barely behind Bell and just ahead of Kyle Larson to earn second place as cars further back in the pack crashed. 

Hocevar was visited by several of his competitors — including Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney — after the race, but he told Fox Sports he preferred not to discuss the post-race conversations.