Matt Johnson
NASCAR driver Carson Hocevar found himself involved in another wreck this past weekend at Sonoma Raceway, this time making contact with Denny Hamlin and spinning out the No. 11 car.
On this week’s episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin explained that he viewed the incident with Hocevar as a “racing deal” that was primarily caused by both Hocevar’s actions
“They just kept shoving and, unfortunately, I got the worst end of it. I think that it’s always very easy to blame the car directly behind you and yes, Carson could have done a better job. But I don’t think that he came into the corner with reckless abandonment…In the end, I’m very comfortable in saying that wreck was a racing deal.”
Denny Hamlin on the contact he got from Carson Hocevar
Going into the turn on Lap 64 at Sonoma Raceway, Hamlin was in sixth place and in a great position to capture the regular-season points lead with a strong finish. Suddenly, when he was forced to check up, Hocevar got into the back of him, and that resulted in the No. 11 car spinning around with a majority of the field passing him.
Many NASCAR fans watching live were ready to blame Hocevar, believing the young driver got overaggressive and took out another one of his peers. However, further video and perspective from those involved shed more light on what really happened.
As captured by the on-board camera on Alex Bowman‘s car, he seemed to get into the back of Brad Keselowski. The impact from that pushed the No. 6 car into the No. 77, resulting in Hocevar then hitting Hamlin.
While Hocevar might deserve some of the blame for trying to go in the middle for a three-wide out of Turn 7 at Sonoma, there was a domino effect that effectively played a role in the incident. Hamlin probably gets away clean if not for Keselowski getting into Hocevar, but the aggressive racing in the thick of the pack caused the issue.
Hamlin was rightfully frustrated that instead of getting a top-10 finish at Sonoma, he had to settle for 26th place in a damaged car. Fortunately, he picked up just enough spots to sit atop the points leaderboard, and that’s a much better position than he expected to be in a few weeks ago.
As for Hocevar, he’s certainly to blame for quite a few wrecks and spins that’ve happened this season. However, the data and camera angles show that his recklessness wasn’t what caused Hamlin’s spin, and it’s clear he doesn’t have to worry about any retaliation from Hamlin either.
