Denny Hamlin Accuses Carson Hocevar of Doing ‘Dumb Things’ to Get Attention

The controversy over Carson Hocevar is going nowhere, as the No:77 Chevy driver found himself backed into the coroner yet again by critics over his post-race antics. After loosing the Brickyard 400 to bitter rival Corey Heim, who is running part-time, despite starting on the pole, the Chevy driver flipped the bird at him during the cool down lap.

This didn’t sit well with Denny Hamlin, the co-owner 23XI, who has been very critical of the youngster this season. Talking about it on his Actions Detrimental podcast, he had the most savage response. He refused to entertain the conversation, highlighting that the Spire Motorsports driver is deliberately doing things to get attention after the underwhelming finish.

I’m not talking about. I think he’s playing chess not checkers. I think he does dumb s**t just to get people to talk about him when he finishes in ninth place.

Denny Hamlin said on his podcast.

It’s same playbook that was used by some great drivers of the past, who has done similar things and create controversy in order to get attention. Denny Hamlin mocked Carson Hocevar for flipping the bird at Corey Heim, who secured two wins already into the 2026 season and is having a better year as the Spire driver racing full-time.

And he was just waving to his daddy on the way by…He owns him. Next subject.

Denny Hamlin added via Actions Detrimental.

On his post-race media session, Heim also took some savage dig at his rival for flipping the bird at him. He highlighted how he beat the veteran racer and even called out the media for talking too much about the racer who didn’t even finish inside the top-5, the same point Hamlin used on his podcast.

I handed him a big fat ‘L’ after that. You guys sure love to talk about a guy who finished ninth.

Corey Heim said about Carson Hocevar.

NASCAR Insider reveals the positive aspect of Core Heim-Carson Hocevar controversy

While some see the beef between Heim and Hocevar as a negative, NASCAR insiders feel differently. Senior journalist Jordan Bianchi, on the latest episode of The Teardown podcast, highlighted the positives of the beef.

He pointed out that animosity has been the key to NASCAR going main-stream, as the key moment for the sport getting the attention entire US was the Allison brothers’ fight with Cale Yarborough. The sport can take advantage of the Hocevar beefs and build on it.

You want animosity. This is what NASCAR is built on. It’s rivalries and hate, and disdain. And you are starting to see that now. Whether it’s Zane Smith or Corey Heim, we want this. And now that you have a driver in Corey Heim, who can go out and beat Hocevar and win races. Yes. This is awesome.

Jordan Bianchi said on his podcast.

One major issue is the fact that Hocevar is too popular among the race fans to make villain narrative around him and a hero narrative won’t work considering he isn’t a gentleman racer on the track. The best way forward is to use the personal feud with Heim that could benefit both drivers in the long-run.

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