Austin Hill doubles down after suspension, denies intentionally wrecking Aric Almirola at Indianapolis

Fresh off of his one-week suspension, Austin Hill is back in the No. 21 car this weekend at Watkins Glen for Richard Childress Racing. Hill was suspended after right-rear hooking Aric Almirola during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis.

As a result of the right rear hook, Austin Hill was held for five laps at Indy. Then, he was given a one-race suspension. As a result, he has been granted a waiver to compete in the playoffs, but has forfeited all playoff points he has earned and any he may earn before the playoffs begin.

When asked about the Almirola incident this week at Watkins Glen, Hill doubled down. He denies that the wreck was intentional. You could argue he even took it a step further.

“I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose,” Hill told Dustin Albino of NASCAR.com. “So, I can at least take that with me.”

Aric Almirola is a tough driver to race. Now that he is semi-retired, he is purely out there to win, and nothing else. In that JGR equipment, he is a formidable opponent every time he gets on the track. He is also very aggressive and physical. The same can be said of Austin Hill.

Austin Hill claims rear hook was ‘unintentional’

For the RCR driver, it shouldn’t have been escalated to a suspension. However, that’s not how NASCAR saw it.

“From my standpoint, it was fully unintentional. It wasn’t one of those lose-your-mind moments and turn to the left,” Hill explained. “I feel like I’m a smarter racer than that. If I was mad about him getting into the back of me, I would have waited until Turn 1 and shipped him like he shipped me in Turn 3. That would have been it. I would have moved him out of the groove and went on.”

Austin Hill has had his moments in the past. So, that likely played a factor in the decision that NASCAR made. It definitely doesn’t help that he was a driver who stood up to be a leader of the series after the Martinsville fiasco earlier this season.

While Hill can still win a championship, it just got so much more difficult. He will be the first driver to test out the new rule. As he goes from round to round with no points to carry over, how far can he make it?