Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Carson Hocevar apology to Kyle Larson, Hendrick wasn't about being a menace

After an eventful day that included a second-place finish at Atlanta, all eyes were on Carson Hocevar after the race.

Hocever had drawn the ire of Kyle Busch for an earlier incident on the track, then he later spun out Ryan Blaney with a tap from behind. Was an apology coming?

The driver of the No. 77 began his post-race interview then pivoted in a direction just about no one saw coming: He apologized to Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports.

Fans sat there wondering, ‘Why is Carson Hocevar apologizing to them?’

“I think he was apologizing to them because he didn’t help them at the end,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggested on the Dale Jr. Download. “I don’t think he was saying, ‘Hey, I’m sorry, Rick, for being a menace on the racetrack today.’ I think he was literally apologizing for a very specific choice he made that he thinks they might not have agreed with.”

For Earnhardt, it was a telling sign from the race.

“That tells you how much conversations are going on behind the scenes between teams that have allegiances or alliances or connections and technology and also the manufacturers,” he said. “They all are directed or instructed to, when they can, help each other or work with each other. When you get in that car you know whose engine you leased. You know that in certain scenarios you don’t need to make things harder on that person that’s also leading that engine from or what have you.”

So if Carson Hocevar had a mistake he was apologizing to Hendrick for, it was not pushing or helping Kyle Larson late in the race. Of course, Hocevar was in the thick of the race himself.

“I only think that he was apologizing to them for not pushing Larson to the win and being selfish and going for it himself,” Earnhardt said. “And I think Rick would say, ‘Dude, you go for the win. I appreciate the sentiment but go for the win.’

“There’s plenty other races where he’ll be able to help his friends on the racetrack, but in that scenario you’ve got to go for it.”

As for the rest of Carson Hocevar’s day, Earnhardt had a lot of positive things to say.

“I think we don’t appreciate how far Spire’s come, and it’s moves like hiring a guy like Hocevar that have helped them really be able to take their cars to the racetrack and perform,” he said. “Hocevar, when he got into that car in St. Louis, remember him running 17th when the rotor come off of it? Dude, he was running 16th with that damned thing. It’s crazy. That car hadn’t ran in the top 25. So every time he’s drove he’s impressed just in terms of lap and speed. He’ll clean the other stuff up.”

Then Earnhardt summed up Carson Hocevar, the fairly controversial young driver, as only he can.

“I’d say this to his face: He’s a little goofy f****r and I think he’s fun and good for the sport, got a great personality and he does want to be appreciated and respected and he’s young,” Earnhardt said. “He got that sim rigged up in the hauler at Daytona and he’s on there Twitching and streaming. He’s good for the sport because he’s just not the norm.”