Aggressive style of driving has been a part of NASCAR for a long time, but where does one draw the line between aggression and risk? After the incident at Michigan, Denny Hamlin did not hold back from urging Carson Hocevar and the other rising stars to rethink their approach on track. 

During the FireKeepers Casino 400 race at Michigan, on the race restart on Lap 83, Hocevar got to the back of John Hunter Nemechek and tried to move left. But the move did not stick, causing a big nine-car pile-up. One of the drivers involved in the incident was Denny Hamlin, but he managed to escape with minor damage to his car. 

While discussing the incident on his "Actions Detrimental" podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver gave some advice to the new generation of drivers, including Daniel Suarez.

“The field could avoid a lot more wrecks if they stop trying to like drive through it like ‘Days of Thunder’,” said Hamlin. “There's nothing to be gained, folks, like just hold your line and slow down. You'll miss more wrecks by doing that than saying, 'Oh, I'm going to hit this gap'. Like, or  'I'm going to try to speed up and turn left before he gets...' no, just slow down. That's all you have to do. Slow down. You're not gaining anything. So just chill.”

Denny Hamlin was one of the many drivers to voice his frustration with Carson Hocevar during the race. He spoke over his radio moments after the incident, saying:

“Man, Carson (Hocevar), he just gets so f****** excited he can’t help it.” 

Despite being the catalyst of the nine-car melee, Hocevar finished the race in fifth. Hamlin also managed to keep going in the race despite minor damage and took his 63rd Cup win and equalled the late Kyle Busch’s record for ninth on the all-time wins list. 

However, Hamlin is not the only NASCAR driver to warn Hocevar about his antics. 

Bubba Wallace Warns Carson Hocevar After Michigan Incident

The Spire Motorsports driver earned his fourth top-five finish of the season so far, but he was not in the spotlight for that. All eyes were on the No. 77 for causing the big one, which prompted a good chunk of the NASCAR garage to turn against him.

Bubba Wallace was also one of the drivers involved in the incident. After the race, the 23XI driver was seen talking to Hocevar on the pit road. Here is what he told Prime Video about his conversation with Hocevar. 

“He’s creating a lot of enemies," said Wallace. "This is the same old story, same old Hocevar. But I just told him, ‘You’re fast, a lot of us are jealous of what you have and what you’re able to do, but we’re beating you because we can put a race together better than you.’ That’s all.”

Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace echoed a similar message about the incident. However, it is yet to be seen if Hocevar and the new generation drivers will take up on NASCAR’s veteran drivers' advice.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak