The reactions to Carson Hocevar’s aggressive racing style in Atlanta have been extremely divisive. Mark Martin has stood behind the Spire Motorsports youngster and encouraged him to continue being aggressive. Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, used Martin himself as a reason to argue why Hocevar shouldn’t do so.
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Martin shared a video by YouTuber Shawn K The King on his X handle recently. It was a clip from the movie House Party 3, in which actor Bernie Mac is seen advising the character, played by Christopher Reid, about being himself. Martin captioned his post, “For @CarsonHocevar.”
His stand found great reception among fans. One wrote back, “Kyle Busch complaining like Carson hasn’t done the exact same thing hundreds of times!!”
Another added, “What I think is awesome is how many people I’ve heard say, “Imagine what Mark Martin would tell him”. Well people, there’s your answer!”
What I think is awesome is how many people I’ve heard say, “imagine what Mark Martin would tell him”.
Well people, there’s your answer!
— Todd Falkowski (@toddfalkowski) February 24, 2025
For another fan, a big void was filled thanks to Hocevar. They quipped, “With SHR gone I’ve been looking for “my guy” and I think I’ve found him in @CarsonHocevar LFG!!!!!” Amid all the excitement, one fan kept things grounded by pointing out what happened the last time a driver was this aggressive on the race track.
They wrote, “We already had 1 team owner deball a driver to the point he went from a championship 4 driver to 19th.” The driver spoken about is Ross Chastain and the team owner is Rick Hendrick. Chastain eased up on his racing style following the intervention of Hendrick in 2023. His results haven’t been the same since.
While Martin has pitched Hocevar to continue being on the way he currently is, Hamlin doesn’t think he should. He detailed on his podcast that there used to be respect on the race track back in the day when he raced against the likes of Martin and Tony Stewart. He isn’t fond of the cultural shift that has made wrecking others recklessly a normal occurrence.
When Hamlin claimed that the days of gentlemen drivers were over
In 2023, Hamlin came under fire for his aggressive racing against Kyle Larson in the Pocono Raceway. His move to win the event was a controversial one and it led to fans being dissatisfied with him. In an attempt to defend himself, Hamlin noted that he just did what he had to win the race and wouldn’t have it any other way.
He added, mentioning Martin, “Even Mark Martin would have to adjust his style in this type of car because the days of the gentleman letting the guys go and you will just go and get them later. It’s just a different game these days. I wish we could go back to those days, but that is not where we are at. You have to adapt to where you are at. You adapt or you die.”
This leads us to ask the question of why the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has lost this sense of clarity in Hocevar’s case. The hypocrisy is blatant, one could argue. All said and done, Martin, who is one of the cleanest racers NASCAR has seen, has extended his support for the young driver. That must mean a lot to him.
