Calls to ban recently suspended NASCAR star mount | Sports News

Upon his return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series following a one-race suspension at Watkins Glen, Austin Hill continues to alienate followers and his fellow drivers after his second controversial wreck in three races.

The driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, 31, was operating third late within the Mission 200 At The Glen on Saturday, battling with Michael McDowell for second, when he hooked the rear left of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, sending him straight nose-first into the barrier.

McDowell was despatched spinning throughout the observe as his car tore aside, leaving particles scattered, all of the whereas others within the quickly approaching queue shortly turned entangled, with 16 automobiles finally turning into concerned within the brutal wreck. The race wound up being received by JR Motorsports’ Connor Zilisch, after he too was concerned in a wreck with teammate Shane van Gisbergen, earlier than struggling a main damage during his post-race celebrations.

“What the heck is that guy doing? I mean, why would he do that?…I mean, he hooked me!” McDowell might be heard telling his workforce over the radio.

This got here after Hill was recently slapped with a race ban for ‘reckless driving,’ following one other late race wreck, this time at Indianapolis. There, Hill appeared to retaliate for being nudged from the rear by the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Aric Almirola by clipping his proper rear and sending him into the wall.

While Almirola felt this was a deliberate transfer by Hill, the RCR star continues to preserve his innocence, regardless of the workforce’s choice not to attempt to appeal the ban.

Now with Hill on the middle of one other main wreck, some followers are calling for NASCAR to take more severe motion. “Suspend the 21 again for 2 weeks. Remove him from playoffs,” one fan advised.

“Yes Austin Hill needs to be suspended for this one and it was intentional and for the rest of the year,” a second stated. “@_AustinHill needs to be suspended FOR GOOD! Enough with this type of driving!” claimed one other.

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Meanwhile, a fourth merely replied, “That’s unacceptable coming off a suspension.”

McDowell, nevertheless, was remarkably diplomatic when reflecting on the incident, brushing apart any solutions that there was any malice concerned and that Hill ought to face additional punishment.

“There was no way he was gonna finish the pass there and he just made the decision not to lift and to turn me,” he advised Frontstretch after being launched from the in-field care middle. “But that’s not the same as a regular hook at an oval. You know that’s not what I’m saying. So I don’t want that to be communicated. I don’t want that to be the headline.

“So yeah, you know it’s just unfortunate we had a fun race. It was going good until it wasn’t, and yeah, I’ll go back and look and see what I could have done differently, too, because there’s always two sides to it once you look through it.”

The 40-year-old even went on to describe the hit as “fun,” including, “Yeah, it was a good one. If you’re gonna do it do it big.”

As for Hill, he finally took the blame for the hit, explaining, “I know the grass was coming up. We ran out of real estate. I should have just lifted, got back in line and lived to fight another corner.

“I hate it for everyone involved. That’s definitely not what I want to happened, coming back from what we got going on. That was definitely just on me. Just a driver error, I’m just going for it here. I needed to make a move as fast as possible on the No. 11.”