NASCAR’s Amanda Ellis details how Austin Hill 5-lap penalty was determined after Aric Almirola incident

Amanda Ellis, NASCAR’s senior director of racing communications, shared details on how the league determined Austin Hill‘s five-lap penalty after his incident with Aric Almirola at Indianapolis. On the Hauler Talk podcast, Ellis said the five-lap penalty was based on what NASCAR has done in the Truck Series.

“The reasoning for that is, first of all, we have done that in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series a couple of times in recent years,” Ellis said. “And those drivers were held for two laps. When you move up a series, and you’re in the Xfinity Series, you will often see that penalty be escalated.

“That was the case of this. We felt like we kind of had that penalty before, and we felt like it needed to be escalated in this incident to show that NASCAR was not okay with what happened. Additionally, it was just a situation where I think after some conversations last year, there is a reason that NASCAR wants to react to these things quicker. We will still always review things on Tuesdays. That is something we are always going to do. But I do believe that there’s some want to react to things when we feel like we know what’s right, and this was one of those situations.”

Austin Hill has been suspended for one Xfinity Series race

Austin Hill hit Aric Almirola during he 91st lap of the Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past weekend. Hill bumped Almirola’s right-rear fender, leading to Almirola’s No. 19 Toyota into the wall. NASCAR issued the five-lap penalty on Hill. On Tuesday, NASCAR announced Hill was suspended for the upcoming Xfinity race at Iowa.

Because of the suspension, Hill will require a waiver so that he can remain eligible for the Xfinity Series playoffs. He will forfeit his 21 playoff points and can’t collect more before the playoffs begin.

Hill drives the No. 21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, and the team announced it won’t appeal the suspension. “Richard Childress Racing will not appeal the penalty NASCAR issued to the No. 21 team following the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” the team said. “We remain focused on winning a championship with Austin Hill in 2025. Austin Dillon will race the No. 21 Chevrolet at Iowa Speedway.”