Denny Hamlin delivers blunt verdict on Carson Hocevar’s attitude over the Iowa controversy: “Hurts you in the long run”

Denny Hamlin believes that Carson Hocevar's attitude over his Iowa shunt is a 'tough way to live'. He explained how it may bode well for social media but not with his fellow Cup drivers.

Hocevar found a top-10 placing on Sunday's Iowa Corn 350, but ruined Zane Smith's day with a final-stage incident. The two were running side-by-side when Hocevar got loose, clipped the rear of Smith's #38 Ford, and forced him into the barriers.

However, during a post-race interview, Hocevar appeared to be nonchalant about the whole ordeal. Smith's crew chief confronted him during the interview and had some choice words to say.

Reflecting upon the same, Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on Actions Detrimental.

"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. [36:03 onwards]

Denny Hamlin also mentioned how the same attitude is what got Joey Logano in trouble during his early days, referring to a 2015 Martinsville incident when Matt Kenseth took him out in retaliation for a previous wreck.

Smith wasn't the only victim of Hocevar's on-track mishaps, for Shane Van Gisbergen had a tight three-wide moment due to the Spire driver's aggressiveness. In response, the New Zealander called him a 'wanker' over team radio.

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Denny Hamlin stands by Austin Hill's suspension

Austin Hill faced a one-race suspension due to his intentional wreck at Indianapolis, and Denny Hamlin had nothing but support for NASCAR's call. Furthermore, 2025 regulations deemed Hill ineligible to score anymore playoff points in the regular season, and all playoff points he'd gathered thus far were also stripped.

Hamlin explained the severity of the punishment, saying,

"Well, it always hurts when you're the first," Hamlin replied,"The idea I think behind the penalty is to deter others from, you know, doing something similar to that in the same scenario. So, usually this is how it works where it just takes one rough driving penalty to, you know, get the field's attention and certainly nobody wants to have the the penalty that the 21 had." [via Youtube/Frontstretch, 1:08 onwards]

Denny Hamlin's comments on Austin Hill suspension. Source: @Youtube/Frontstretch

NASCAR previously docked 50 points off Austin Cindric's tally after his deliberate crash with Ty Dillon at COTA. Notably, Dillon's brother Austin Dillon filled in for Hill during the Iowa weekend.

Hill lost a total of 21 playoff points and is currently fifth in the driver's standings with three wins and 12 top-10s across 21 rounds. Connor Zilisch leads both standings with five wins and 772 points.