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NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Denny Hamlin gave rival Carson Hocevar "the old finger" out of the No. 11 window after an "aggressive" battle at North Wilkesboro.
NASCAR returned for its first Cup Series points race at the historic track for the first time in 30 years, with Hamlin looking to extend his lead at the top of the Cup Series standings. Hamlin finished second behind Joey Logano, extending his lead over 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick to 68, with the season charging toward the new postseason "Chase" championship format. It was Hamlin's sixth top-five finish in his last 10 Cup Series outings, but it didn't come without challenges.
At the end of Stage 1, Hamlin and his crew chief hatched an "aggressive" plan to climb the race order. Although it also sparked frustration from Carson Hocevar during the Window World 450. When the caution flew in the opening stage, most of the frontrunners opted to pit for two fresh tires.
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Rather than follow the usual Joe Gibbs Racing approach of prioritizing tire wear, Gayle kept Hamlin out to gain positions on track. The gamble paid off, with Hamlin holding off Hocevar over several laps to finish fourth in the stage, resulting in a net gain of three places despite drawing the ire of his rival.
After making contact, Hamlin flipped off Hocevar out of his window. "We raced hard. There was one time... He really tries to slide guys a ton. He goes in there and just overdrives and then uses his right rear to move you up," Hamlin said on his podcast.
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"So I know that tendency. I planned for it and drove accordingly, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't drive in really deep to not let him ever clear.
"There was one time, he slipped up and got into the side, and I gave him the old finger out the window, 'No, no, no, don't do that.' From there on out, we didn't make contact again."
"We wanted to stay aggressive with our track position, and it was a net gain for us," Hamlin also said on his team's decision to gain positions. "It was a battle. I was doing everything I could to hold all the track position.
"I'm sure Carson Hocevar was frustrated getting stuck behind me. I just want to make sure I run my line. I knew it was going to be tough.
"Any other time in the race, I certainly would've let him go, but I had to hold that track position because I knew the end of the stage was coming.
"If it was an infinite run when we don't know when the caution was coming, I certainly would've let him go."
