Kenny Wallace reacts to NASCAR suspending Austin Hill: ‘It’s fun to play tough guy’

NASCAR handed down a one-race suspension for Austin Hill after he right-rear hooked Aric Almirola in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis. With the suspension, he also lost all of his playoff points.

It’s a steep penalty, but one that is teaching the lesson NASCAR wants it to, said legendary racer Kenny Wallace. Wallace opened up on the suspension with a short video on his Twitter account.

“Of course the way Austin can get them back is he can win right away,” Wallace said. “So here’s my message: Don’t f*ck with NASCAR. They’re gonna get you. Oh it’s fun to play tough guy. And then you realize, oh, I don’t own NASCAR. They own me.”

That was the gist of Wallace’s message to Austin Hill. You picked a fight with the wrong entity, in other words.

The contact itself was egregious, but it could at least be explained by an earlier incident on the track. Wallace walked through that early on in his segment about Hill.

“Aric Almirola got right on the rear bumper of Austin Hill,” Wallace explained. “Got him loose and I’m going to tell you what, Austin Hill saved it, did a hell of a job. What a great save, Austin, good job. But he was so mad that Aric Almirola got him loose that instead of just saving it and fighting for the win, he clearly turned left on Aric, hooked him in the right rear and sent Aric into the wall.”

It was what happened next that cost Hill the most, according to Wallace. And it’s a tough lesson for young drivers to learn.

“Then he came down pit road, Austin Hill comes down pit road to get tires and he is motherf*cking NASCAR on the radio,” Wallace said. “What got him in real trouble besides hooking Aric Almirola was he motherf*cked NASCAR on that radio. He tells NASCAR go f*ck themselves. I said, ‘Uh oh.’ So here’s the way NASCAR does that deal. They’re going to get your attention. That’s the way NASCAR works. They’re going to get your attention.”

It took a while for Wallace to realize in his own career that NASCAR makes the rules. You can push against them all you want, but at the end of the day the governing body calls the shots.

“Now that I’m older when I look back on my career and I look at the young kids nowadays… the young kids haven’t figured out they’re in NASCAR’s playground,” Wallace said. “One thing NASCAR told me: They don’t need you. The drivers are in line. They’re trying to get your ride. We’ve got lots of other drivers.

“So just when you motherf*ck NASCAR and think, ‘Hey NASCAR, you can kiss my ass,’ well, Austin Hill just figured out what happens. So NASCAR has suspended, they will not let Austin Hill race next week. He’s going to take a week off, and that hurts, because somebody’s going to be in his car, and that’s what hurts the most, when you see somebody in your racecar.”

Wallace summed up the situation on Austin Hill pretty succinctly. There’s not much else to it.

“Now they’re going to take Austin Hill’s points and they’re going to seed him last,” Wallace said. “So he’s in the playoffs but he’s going to be last now. He’s starting the playoffs with no points. That hits you in the jugular right there. That hurts like a motherf*cker.

“‘Hey Austin, everything you did all year don’t mean jack sh*t. Yeah, we’re going to let you in the playoffs because you did win the race, but we’re going to let you start the playoffs with no points. You’re going to start last.'”