Austin Hill won’t be racing this weekend at Iowa Speedway—not because his car isn’t ready, but because NASCAR isn’t having it.
NASCAR dropped the hammer on Tuesday handing down a suspension to the Richard Childress Racing driver for his part in the now-infamous crash that wiped out Aric Almirola in Turn 4 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hill has been benched for one race, meaning he’ll miss the next Xfinity Series championship points event on August 3.
If you’re just tuning in, this all started Saturday at the Pennzoil 250 when Hill and Almirola were locked in a good old-fashioned scrap for fourth place. Almirola nudged Hill in Turn 3, Hill saved it, and then—whether by bad luck or bad mood—came back down the track and hooked Almirola’s right-rear quarter panel. The result looked more like a scene from a demolition derby than a race for a trophy.
Almirola slammed the outside wall head-on, his day ending in a heap of twisted metal and frustrated radio chatter. Hill spun out across Sheldon Creed’s nose, collected damage of his own, and then found himself parked for five laps by NASCAR for “reckless driving.”
But the real fireworks came on the radio—and, later, from the garage.
While cooling his tires (and heating up the FCC’s legal department), Hill dropped a barrage of expletives on the NASCAR officials, including a now-notorious line suggesting they “go f*** themselves.” That kind of radio programming may fly on premium cable, but not when you’re representing a sponsor and a legendary team.
Then there was team owner Richard Childress, who opened with “I’m not going to say nothing,” before absolutely saying something. In a fiery post-race rant, he blasted what he saw as NASCAR’s double standards, comparing Hill’s penalty to past unpunished moves by Joe Gibbs Racing.
“They didn’t do a damn thing to the 2 car when he wrecked Ty,” Childress said. “It’s who you are. We’re a blue-collar team—they give us trouble all the time.”
Well, trouble just knocked back.
Hill’s suspension marks a rare instance of NASCAR throwing the rulebook at a driver not just for on-track aggression, but for the heat he brought off-track. It also leaves RCR scrambling to find a substitute driver for the No. 21 Chevrolet at Iowa, where Hill sits eighth in the standings and very much in the playoff hunt.
As of Tuesday evening, Hill had not issued a public statement. Whether it’s regret or just radio silence, we’ll find out soon enough.
One thing’s for sure—he’ll have plenty of time this weekend to reflect, regroup, and maybe consider adding a delay button to his team radio.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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