While racing at Sonoma Raceway during the restart, one thing led to another, and Carson Hocevar found himself in the middle of yet another controversy. This time, he had made contact with Denny Hamlin, who spun him around. While drivers would usually be worried about being blamed for causing an incident, Hocevar was worried about something completely different.

Denny Hamlin’s matchup at Sonoma in the In-Season Challenge was Ty Dillon. While Hocevar might not have needed to worry about those allegations, he would need to worry about Hamlin’s wrath.

“Did Ty [Dillon] beat him?” he asked Jeff Gluck after the race, which the latter denied. “Well, there you go. So at least it didn’t cost him too much. Because I was going to feel bad. I was like, s–, I have been singing Ty’s praises, and then I spin Denny. I was like, ‘S–, they are going to look at me as if I were betting on Ty for some reason.’

“But no, I just got hit. I mean, it’s just one of those things. It’s a tough corner. If we all start shoving, there’s always gonna be a victim.”

Hamlin had dropped an explosive rant over the radio, filled with expletives for the guy who had spun him around. Hamlin was informed that Hocevar had hit him, but he was unaware of what was going on in the pack behind. Unfortunately for both drivers, they ended up getting locked out of any space and were hit by others behind them.

In Hamlin’s case, it might have been Hocevar, but the latter himself was being shoved around by the RFK Racing car behind him. The video replays show that Brad Keselowski was also involved in the incident, along with Alex Bowman. They left no room for Hocevar, who ended up making contact with Hamlin.

After running in the top 10 before the incident, Hamlin’s outing at Sonoma was ruined due to front splitter damage on his car. He finished outside of the Top 20.

During his interview, Hocevar was quick to point that out and shift the blame away from his shoulders.

“I just know I got hit. I was like, going to be left, and I just looked into my mirror, and they are all like lining up, and I was like, ‘S–, if I don’t get it right, I am probably going to get spun.’ And so I was like, I haven’t seen it, but I remember getting hit. I was going full right, and obviously I was further right when he spun. I definitely got hit. I thought it was the 60, but maybe it was the 6. I saw a lot of them shoving.”

The only saving grace was the fact that he finally overtook Tyler Reddick in the driver standings and advanced to the next round of the In-Season Challenge.

Hamlin gets his revenge on Ty Dillon

Last year, at the same track, Denny Hamlin was knocked down by Ty Dillon in the in-season challenge. This year, the stars seemed to align in his favor.

Even though he finished in P26, which in no capacity reflected the pace he and his car held over the weekend, he claimed victory in the matchup as Ty Dillon ended his race in P35 with a power steering issue. His next rival is going to be Erik Jones, who won over Joey Logano.

It was a rough race for Dillon. He was hoping to make a comeback after facing off against Ty Gibbs during the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. This year, he was reportedly counting on the No. 11 JGR team to make a mistake and capitalize on the same.

While he did get a chance from Hamlin’s run-in with Hocevar, he couldn’t have predicted a failure on his own car. Last year, Hamlin had cheered for him during his run, as he mentioned pre-race. Will this year see Dillon sit back and become Hamlin’s No. 1 fan?