Carson Hocevar has been called out by NASCAR star Denny Hamlin for his reaction to a controversial incident at the Iowa Corn 350.
The incident in question happened during the final stage at Iowa Speedway where Hocevar got loose and clipped the back of Zane Smith’s car while racing side by side. Smith went into the wall and ended his day while Hocevar went on to finish 8th.
Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin said Hocevar’s attitude might play well on social media but won’t win him friends, or forgiveness, among Cup Series collegues.
Hamlin initially called the contact accidental but then turned his attention to Hocevar’s reaction after the race.
“It seems like Carson’s definitely brushing it off as if to say ‘tough luck, buddy’, right? That’s a tough way to live. Toughest way to go about this…..it hurts you in the long run. If that’s the attitude you want to have, it’s good for social media. It’s bad for on-track results,” he said.
Smith’s crew chief Ryan Bergenty confronted Hocevar in a post race interview and accused him of being reckless and not caring about the damage.
Denny Hamlin Thinks Carson Hocevar Should Learn “The Hard Way”
The Iowa incident wasn’t a one-off. Hocevar’s reckless tendencies have earned him the name, “Hurricane Hocevar” and put him in direct conflict multiple times on-track with other drivers.
Earlier in the same race Shane van Gisbergen called him a “wanker” over the radio during a three-wide incident. And in prior weeks he had grumbled with Ryan Blaney, and Ross Chastain.
Denny Hamlin compared Carson Hocevar to Joey Logano’s early days where he was blamed for his own lack of accountability and the rest of the garage was unhappy with him.
Despite the flair and headlines Hamlin said Hocevar would benefit from being humble and owning up to his mistakes.
“We’ve been talking about the same thing for years about the same guy. Let him learn it the hard way.”
