“There are no adults in the room, clearly, in that building. No adults. That’s my opinion. Because how can you honestly think that that’s what’s best for your company? If you’re running a serious organization, I think they’re unserious,” Denny Hamlin recently criticized Spire Motorsports for failing to control the situation surrounding Carson Hocevar’s behavior on and off the track. Now, Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson has responded, and his answer was far more measured than expected. Rather than dismissing Hamlin’s criticism, Dickerson admitted he saw it as a warning.

“Where do I start? I mean, I don’t even know where to, I don’t even know where to begin to unpack that. I mean, we’re serious enough to sue, apparently,” Jeff Dickerson said on the latest episode of GluckCast.

Dickerson was responding to Denny Hamlin’s criticism of Spire Motorsports following the situation involving Carson Hocevar and Brad Keselowski. The incident became another flashpoint around how Spire handles its young driver, with Hamlin questioning whether the organization was doing enough to manage the situation.

For Dickerson, however, Hamlin’s comments immediately brought back memories of what happened inside Joe Gibbs Racing last season. He pointed to the 2025 Loudon race, where Hamlin and Ty Gibbs tangled on track while both representing JGR.

“We’re talking about what happened to, you know, at Loudon when their own situations internally came to a head. And he publicly challenged Coach Gibbs. Are you going to talk to him? Are you guys afraid to talk to him? That’s essentially what he’s saying to me. Are you guys going to talk to him or not? You know what I mean?”

The incident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year created significant tension within JGR. Hamlin was in the then playoffs and fighting for the Cup Series championship, and being held up by Ty Gibbs who wasn’t in the title race. After the incident, Hamlin questioned over his team radio whether the organization was too scared to give Ty team orders, as he is Joe Gibbs’ grandson and has a major influence in the camp.

Hamlin later acknowledged that he had gotten “too hot under the collar” and that his actions had gone too far. But the episode remained an example of the difficult balance between allowing teammates to race and stepping in when their battles begin hurting the organization.

That is where Dickerson appears to understand Hamlin’s criticism of Spire as a warning. He did not claim Hamlin directly accused Spire of being afraid to control Hocevar. Instead, Dickerson connected the comments to what Hamlin himself experienced at JGR and made it clear he does not want Spire to repeat that situation.

At the same time, Dickerson pushed back against the idea that Spire is simply ignoring internal issues because the team has not publicly announced disciplinary action.

“We talk about these things every week. We don’t put out a press release every time we have a talk with Carson, or we discipline Carson on something, right?”

But the situation carries another layer because Spire and JGR are already connected through an ongoing legal battle involving former JGR competition director Chris Gabehart.

“I mean, we ended up with Chris Gabehart because of things like this, right?” Dickerson pointed out.

JGR has alleged that Gabehart took confidential team data and trade secrets before moving into a leadership role at Spire. Gabehart has countersued, alleging JGR withheld pay and bonuses as leverage during his separation.

JGR and Gabehart/Spire have a trial scheduled for Feb 1, 2027. Judge Susan C. Rodriguez will oversee this case in the U.S. District Court for Western District of North Carolina.

Dickerson thinks they are doing enough what they need to do with their drivers. And while he was measured in his response to Hamlin, he stood his ground on how he doesn’t want an outside party to dictate Spire’s internal affairs.