Carson Hocevar finished 21st, two laps down, at Martinsville on Sunday, yet few drivers left the track with more people talking about them. The Spire Motorsports driver slid up the track while being lapped by race leader William Byron, and several rivals accused him of spinning on purpose, which he denied. Austin Cindric, meanwhile, believed Hocevar brake-checked him out of the race. Denny Hamlin has offered a theory about what is really driving it.
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“So I just think that when he started hanging out with Cleetus, I think he’s envious of Cleetus’ following, and he sees how people are just enamored. Now, this is my own theory. I don’t know if this is true. He’s enamored with how Cleetus built this following, how people are obsessed and follow everything that Cleetus does. And Cleetus is a lot of, you know, entertainment, right? I mean, he loves race car driving, which I absolutely love. He’s going to ARCA full-time. I think that’s the perfect thing for him, and it’s going to make me tune in to ARCA quite a bit more next year,” Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental.
“But I feel as though he’d rather be popular than good because, you know, there I don’t think you can be a Jimmy Johnson or a Jeff Gordon or Dale. You can’t be kind of how Carson is on and off the racetrack and still be the dominant figure on the track. I just don’t think there has to be a balance in my mind. So my feeling personally was that I think he’d rather be Cleetus than Jimmy. I think that the popularity is what gets him more excited than the actual results. If that makes any sense.”
Hamlin was careful to present the comparison as his own interpretation rather than something Hocevar has admitted. His argument was that attention cannot replace the results that build a lasting reputation, and he separated Cleetus McFarland’s entertainment-driven following from the legacies of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.
But the comparison also raises a question about why McFarland’s popularity matters in the first place. Known for his automotive videos, racing projects, and larger-than-life online personality, Cleetus has built a YouTube audience of around 4.75 million subscribers, alongside millions of followers on other platforms.
His criticism was aimed at Hocevar’s priorities, not McFarland’s decision to chase a racing career, which Richard Childress Racing confirmed last week with a full-time 2027 ARCA ride in the No. 33 Chevrolet.
Dale Jr. reminds Denny Hamlin of Carson Hocevar’s earlier Martinsville controversies
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not convinced McFarland explained the behavior Hamlin described.
“Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know about that. But I do know that, you know, even before he met Cleetus, he was doing”
“Well, that’s true. That’s absolutely true because it was in the truck series. I mean, I think Martinsville is where he right-rear hooked somebody. So it’s true. That’s true. It’s been going on for a while.”
The Truck Series moment dates to April 2023, when NASCAR parked Carson Hocevar for two laps after he hooked Taylor Gray’s right rear at Martinsville. Hamlin has been here before: after Hocevar spun Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville in 2024, a move that cost him $50,000 and 25 points, Hamlin cited that same hook while urging NASCAR to act.
Sunday’s spin brought the debate back to a track where Hocevar went around three times in the October 2025 Round of 8 finale, a day Hamlin, out with a blown engine, joked about on his podcast. Earnhardt Jr. wondered how this latest one happened.
“How hard is spin out in the middle of the corner at Martinsville?”
“Listen, he stabbed the gas while he was sideways.”
“I don’t see anybody spinning it out in a single-car spin.”
Hamlin has offered similar warnings before. After Hocevar’s collision with Zane Smith at Iowa in 2024, Hamlin cleared him of intent but said his shrug-it-off attitude would hurt him in the long run.
“Yeah, you don’t spin out much unless you really want to. And I think he got sideways, and he listen; when you get sideways, your first reaction is not to stab the gas and get it to go all the way around. And so, yeah, he definitely self-spun. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s ever driven a race car that would object to that one.”
“So, I mean, it’s just that’s two things that happen, and it’s just not a good look. And I don’t like it for him because, you know, I again don’t have many issues with him when it comes to that. But it’s my job on this thing to, we got to talk about these things, and it just was a bad look, and I hope someone can get to him and help steer his career on a little better path.”
Hamlin’s argument rested on pattern rather than a single mistake, and his own commentary stretches back years: Iowa and Nashville in 2024, and now another sideways moment on Sunday. His worry is that moments like these could start to define Hocevar more than his results, and he has plenty to protect, having won at Talladega in April for his first Cup victory. Whether that message reaches him remains to be seen.