It has always been easy for the NASCAR field to point fingers at Carson Hocevar for a massive crash. People usually blame him first because of his aggressive driving history. However, just this one time, Denny Hamlin seems to be defending the upcoming star. After looking back at his own spin at Sonoma Raceway, Hamlin explained exactly what ruined his race. He is not putting all the blame on the No. 77 driver.

Denny Hamlin gives an overview of his Sonoma spin

Hamlin was having a fine outing at the Sonoma Raceway until he was spun around, hampering his top-10 position and sending him to the back of the field. It was Hocevar who bumped into him. But analyzing the spin now, Hamlin had a different explanation.

“I think it’s like 33, 33, 33 [%] of the 77, the 6, and the 48. They were all hitting each other. Nobody wanted to get off the bumper of the guy in front of you. And the guy way up there is the one that got spun,” he said while speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

By splitting the blame 33/33/33, Hamlin made it clear that this was not one driver’s mistake. Instead, three different cars shared the fault equally: Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, and Alex Bowman.

The crash happened on Lap 64 as a large pack of cars raced into Turn 7. Video replays showed a huge chain reaction that started during heavy braking. Alex Bowman bumped into Keselowski, and then he bumped into the #77, who then spun Hamlin around. But at the same time, even Bowman’s #48 was being trailed by multiple cars, including those of Todd Gilliland and Joey Logano.

At the end of the day, it seemed rather difficult to blame a single driver, and Denny Hamlin explained the same.

“I think that it’s always very easy to blame the car directly behind you, and yes, Carson could have done a better job, but I don’t think that he came into the corner with reckless abandonment,” he added.

For most of his Cup Series career, Hocevar has been the epicenter of many crashes, including the ‘Big One’ at Michigan and a massive crash towards the end at Atlanta. So far, Hocevar has made a reputation for triggering chain reactions, but it certainly wasn’t the case at Sonoma, or at least he didn’t intend to do it anyway.

Tracks like Sonoma are usually no strangers to such incidents, especially considering the turn. 7a comes right after a mediocre straight, giving the cars enough pace. Considering how tightly the field was packed while attempting the corner, it was almost inevitable to not have any bumping. And because Hamlin had a gap between him and the car ahead, he ended up spinning.

It hurt Denny Hamlin’s position. Not just in the race, but also in the race for the championship. He has been a strong contender since the season kicked off, and with four race wins, he was chasing down Tyler Reddick in the points table quite easily. In fact, with the issues the #45 car was facing on Sunday, it seemed apparent that Hamlin would actually have a very strong lead in the standings.

To be fair, he did manage to get ahead of Reddick by just a single point. Understandably, he was rather frustrated after the race.

“It’s frustrating, for sure,” Hamlin told the media right after the race. “Definitely, all the finishes matter. I thought we were really doing a good job of having a good car. And I didn’t have great restarts. I’d lose one spot here and there, but we were a top-five car on speed. And then obviously once we got to the back, the nose got damaged so much that it just took all the downforce off of it.”

With eight races remaining in the Regular Season, the fight for the championship seems to be extremely strong right now. Despite the spin, Hamlin managed to gain a few spots and finished the race in 26th place. As for Reddick, he was right at the bottom of the field because of the issues he faced with his steering. This still gave the #11 driver the lead in the points table.

So, it would be interesting to see how the Regular Season championship turns out to be. It seems almost apparent that Denny Hamlin will make the cut for the Chase, along with Tyler Reddick. But there is far more at stake for both drivers, as they go head-to-head, battling for their maiden championships.