Dale Earnhardt Jr. has named the NASCAR Cup Series driver he believes may deliver some payback to controversial phenom Carson Hocevar.

The 23-year-old Hocevar was at the center of a ton of beef during his 2025 season, and 2026 already appears to be going much the same way.

The young man from Portage, Michigan came in for heavy criticism on Sunday after what our own Chris Deeley described as ‘a bonehead move’ in overtime in Atlanta caused absolute chaos.

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Hocevar Atlanta controversy

The Spire Motorsports star tried to steer his #77 car through a gap between Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell. Unfortunately it was a gap that only he could see, because it wasn’t really there. The result was Bell having his victory hopes wrecked, quite literally.

The aftermath, predictably, brought significant criticism with current Cup Series great Denny Hamlin providing a pretty considered take on what had happened. The frustration was clear in the voice of the Joe Gibbs Racing superstar as he spoke.

Hamlin on Hocevar

“It’s tough to watch. The media loves it, by the way. If you want to see what the media thinks, just ask them and they’ll tell you, ‘Ah, we love Hocevar’. Well, no question you do because he’s giving you some content for you to talk about. As a competitor, though, like, eventually, it’s going to come back around.

“He’ll be in a position where he thinks he’s about to win and someone will decide he’s not going to and that’s gonna suck for him and his team on that day. But, you’re never gonna get anyone to give you a break when you clearly won’t give anyone else a break.”

Which driver will wreck Hocevar?

Fast forward a little while, and Dale Jr. had his own say on the latest episode of ‘Hocevargate', claiming: “We’re here now to talk about whether this is his fault or not his fault, and I think it’s clear that he bears the responsibility for everything that happened.

“Does this come back on him? We don’t know, we do not know.”

As he collected thoughts, Dale Jr went to say he does believe there will be payback for Hocevar at some stage. And he has thoughts on the driver who might deliver that payback.

'It may be Denny' - Dale Jr.

“I feel like that yes, eventually somebody will do something and it may be Denny that says ‘you know what, I’m not having a f****** good race today and you are, and it’s my chance’.”

“I know the drivers get out of the car and they’ll say: ‘oh he’s gonna regret that one of these days’ and we don’t see anything. But eventually, yes eventually enough’s enough and somebody will drop the hammer.”

Clearly that monologue had given Dale Jr further time to think about who might ‘drop the hammer’, and by now he had increased the list of prime suspects significantly.

“You know who it might be? Could be anybody.” [Insert laughing emoji].

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