Denny Hamlin addresses Carson Hocevar blame following Sonoma incident

After much anticipation, Denny Hamlin has broken down his spin at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday.  Who is to blame?  Was it Carson Hocevar? Brad Keselowski?  Alex Bowman? 

Hamlin broke down the incident, which occurred on lap 64 and shuffled Hamlin from sixth to the rear of the field, on Actions Detrimental. 

“I’ve had some time to look at the wreck. I think it’s just the field and Sonoma Raceway,” said Hamlin. “Well, to me personally, it just seemed like the data’s too messy to really lock in on one person. I know it’s easy [to say] that there’s gotta be someone to blame.

“I hear you, but I think it’s like 33, 33, 33 [percent] of the 77, the 6 and the 48. I just, 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. What was disappointing is that they came from so far back. I’m four car lengths clear of these guys. What are they doing running to the back of me?  Unless they are just ping-ponging off of each other. And they just did, they just kept shoving. And unfortunately I got the worst end of it.”

While the TNT broadcast crew was quick, along with most of the rest of the western world, to point to Carson Hocevar in real time, the in-car videos and further replays suggested more was at play than just an easy out of pinning it on Hocevar. 

Hocevar fans quickly pointed to Brad Keselowski pushing the 77 into Hamlin. Keselowski fans returned jabs with Alex Bowman being the prime culprit. 

For Hamlin, although it would be easy to blame Hocevar, Sunday was just a racing deal. 

“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. I don’t. It didn’t, if you really look at the, look at how the guys were driving, which I can look at; usually you can tell intent through data.

“You can’t say, ‘I didn’t mean to hook them,’ when your steering wheel turns towards them, right. You know what I mean? It usually doesn’t lie, but it’s just, it’s just too messy.

“All of them had somewhat of a role and not just, I got the bad end of it. I wish they weren’t so careless, but there’s been many people that they’ve gotten spun like I did in that race, so you just got to take it on the chin. 

“In the end, I’m, I’m very comfortable in saying that, that, that wreck was a racing deal.”

Hamlin: ‘It would be grossly irresponsible’

For Hamlin, pinning this incident on any single driver would be irresponsible.  Grossly irresponsible.

“Well, I would love to [blame someone]; I just think it would be grossly irresponsible. No, I’m very confident in that.”

Despite the incident that resulted in a bent splitter and shuffling Hamlin from sixth to the rear of the field, the Joe Gibbs Racing star moved into first in The Chase standings, passing his driver for 23XI, Tyler Reddick, for the top spot.  Hamlin leads Reddick by a single point with eight races remaining before The Chase field is set for the 10-race championship battle.