Denny Hamlin gives word of advice to Carson Hocevar after Atlanta controversy

It’s usually not a good thing when you hear your name called as many times on the broadcast as Carson Hocevar did at the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday in Atlanta.

Hocevar’s day was an adventure, from an early interaction that left Kyle Busch flipping him off and vowing to wreck him, to a late-race bump that spun out Ryan Blaney, finally to a second-place finish.

And things didn’t end there.

How Carson Hocevar dealt with post-race media was another topic of conversation. He was mostly reserved in an interview with FOX Sports on the air, then saved up a doozy of a comment for his interviews with reporters on the infield.

“We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play in the playground together,” Hocevar said, per Toby Christie of Racing America.

That led Denny Hamlin to offer some free advice to the driver of the No. 77.

“If I had one word of advice and it’d be tough coming from me because I’m the one that likes to fuel my feud with the fans at times, it’s that you’re fueling the fire,” Hamlin said. “If you do run into someone or you do someone wrong on the track it’s probably best to then be humble publicly.”

Carson Hocevar struck that more humble tone on the air with FOX, only to turn around and offer a somewhat flippant response to reporters on the ground.

Hamlin speculated that was calculated from Hocevar.

“Well some people know that, OK, millions will hear this one and only thousands will hear the other,” Hamlin said. “So let me make sure my image looks good on TV, but I’ll let my true self speak when I talk to a reporter.”

Whatever the case, Hamlin has seen this whole thing unfold before. It’s not the first time a younger driver has come into the field and made some waves.

The veteran driver of the No. 11 car offered some more guidance for Carson Hocevar.

“The thing is is that if you’ve got a bunch of guys upset with you it just makes your job so hard,” Hamlin said. “It really does. And it makes it hard in so many aspects, because you’ve got restarts that now drivers are like, ‘Screw him, I ain’t afraid to shove him three-wide middle or shuck him out.’ Or on the racetrack, Carson’s way faster than me, instead of giving him the finger to go on by, I’m just going to hold him up. Screw him.”

Can Carson Hocevar still succeed doing it his way? It’s certainly possible.

But Hamlin knows how it feels to drive against the rambunctious, somewhat aggressive younger driver.

“I just think that if someone were to spin me out, I would just every time they were around me or behind me, I would do everything I could to just hold them up for a while,” Hamlin said. “You just don’t let it go. I feel like I’m like most drivers, you just don’t let it go and it just, you just want to frustrate them and show your displeasure through racing them hard. And that’s how we get even.”

If that’s what Carson Hocevar wants, so be it. But at least Denny Hamlin is trying to talk some sense into him after a turbulent weekend.