NASCAR has suspended Austin Hill for the next NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday for crashing Aric Almirola over the weekend during the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The penalty cuts deeper than just the race missed as new NASCAR regulations established at the start of the season will strip a driver of all playoff points earned during the regular season unless missing a race is for a pre-approved reason.
An example of the latter is Denny Hamlin missing the Mexico City Cup Series race for the birth of his son. A suspension does not carry such an exception. Prior to the suspension, Hill (21) trailed only Connor Zilisch (29) and Justin Allgaier (22) in playoff points meaning he will start the playoffs below the cutline and as a lower-tier seed.
He is seventh in the Xfinity Series standings with three wins.
Richard Childress Racing will have Cup Series driver Austin Dillon replace Hill in the Xfinity Series race at Iowa this weekend.
Hill argued that the contact with Almirola on Saturday was not intentional but NASCAR issued a five lap penalty during the race. He responded by saying ‘fuck NASCAR’ and ‘fuck them,’ plus ‘that is bullshit,’ likely not helping his case.
NASCAR no doubt reached the conclusion to suspend Hill after looking at on-board telemetry data as well.
Both drivers were racing in the top-five late in the race on Saturday when Almirola moved Hill off the bottom groove. Hill corrected his wheel but white gloves showed a hard left turn into the right rear.
Almirola spun and crashed and finished 35th. Hill finished 34th, five laps down.