Carson Hocevar went for it all in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta and fell short of securing his first checkered flag. Hocevar saw a hole between Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace off the first overtime restart. Once he got there, it was gone. Bell ended up in the wall and Hocevar finished fourth.

It was an aggressive move, for sure. In the eyes of Denny Hamlin, it was a move that never needed to be made. In fact, the “he went for it” part of the discussion isn’t something Hamlin is buying.

“I keep hearing, ‘Well, he’s going for it. So, if I’m three car lengths behind Carson Hocevar, and I go through the grass into Turn 1, is that just me going for it, or is that me being an idiot? I think we have to stop using the, ‘He’s just going for it,’” Hamlin said Monday on Actions Detrimental. “There’s a difference, and I certainly feel like there’s better decisions that could be made, but we’re talking about the same things we’ve been saying for a year-and-a-half. I almost hate we’re bringing more attention to it because I think he likes that.”

Denny Hamlin addresses Carson Hocevar, Riley Herbst comparison

But what about Riley Herbst‘s move the week prior in the Daytona 500? There, Herbst got a run down the frontstretch on the final lap and shot up top to make an attempt to win. Brad Keselowski had a massive run going of his own, and the result was Herbst wrecking himself, Keselowski, and the other cars behind them.

Hamlin doesn’t see similarities in the incidents. Hocevar’s crossed a line and became reckless, he said.

“Riley wrecked into a guy that was on his right-rear quarter, where he could not see. Carson could see there was no hole there to be had,” Hamlin said. “Riley is coming to the finish of the Daytona 500 and two cars in front of him are side-by-side. He’s running 5 mph, and he’s just turning right into what he sees is open racetrack. Unfortunately, the 6 [Keselowski] gets there and he makes contact. I think that is vastly different than just bowling through someone that’s right in front of you.”

Hocevar has some stuff to clean up. Just 23, there’s plenty of time for that to happen. Hocevar has the raw speed to win, and it could finally happen this season.