Carson Hocevar may have missed the playoffs, but he still managed to grab the spotlight in the first race of the playoffs, at Darlington, after a run-in with Chase Elliott and a tangle with Christopher Bell.

During the 2025 Cook Out Southern 500, Elliott and Hocevar made contact on the frontstretch, sparking plenty of frustration. The two Chevrolet drivers traded blows in Stage 2 of the playoff opener.

Elliott, hunting for a lane with his trademark focus, slid down the track and banged doors with Hocevar, leaving the rookie sideways and nearly spinning. Hocevar didn’t mince words on the radio, firing off, “F**k him… I don’t care who he drives for.”

Asked at Gateway whether the dust-up had been addressed or buried, Hocevar kept it short, saying, “Yeah, I mean you just move on. It was super early. It didn’t affect either one of us, I don’t think, too bad.

“You just move on. One thinks you’re going to give a little bit of extra room, and the other you’re trying to kind of play a pick. I think that’s just racing.”

Hocevar salvaged a ninth-place finish while Elliott limped home in 17th. The No. 77 driver has had his share of scrapes this season, but this one doesn’t appear destined to spill over at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The same can’t be said for his clash with Christopher Bell. What looked like a solid night for Bell unraveled on pit road in Stage 2, when Hocevar spun while trying to reach his stall and slid into the No. 20.

The contact crushed the nose of Bell’s Toyota and derailed his playoff opener. Bell, who had the speed to run up front, left Darlington nursing a 29th-place finish instead of the cushion he expected above the cut line.

And if he and Hocevar cross paths at Gateway, that unfinished business could surface again, as Bell seemed quite frustrated at the Spire Motorsports driver after the race. However, from Hocevar’s point of view at least, it’s all water under the bridge for now.