Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives surprising reaction to Austin Hill flipping off NASCAR fans at Talladega

Last week at Talladega, Austin Hill was spotted giving a little extra attention to some fans. Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t think it’s a big deal. Hill was caught on camera giving the bird to some fans as he drove to Victory Lane on Saturday. That resulted in a major debate over whether he should receive a penalty or a fine.

NASCAR fans can be some of the most intense, personal, and enraging fans in sports. The hatred isn’t diluted by an entire team of athletes. Instead, drivers act as the lightning rod for hate and the face for fanbases to latch onto.

If you’re a Kyle Busch fan, you don’t like Brad Keselowski. If you aren’t a Chase Elliott fan, you probably don’t like him at all. And if you’re just a fan of some random driver in the field, you still don’t like Joey Logano.

This week on the Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt touched on the drama a bit. He put out his podcast episode before this week’s penalty report came out. Austin Hill was not penalized for his middle finger.

“Now, let’s be clear, Austin Hill did not drive – this is Austin Hill driving by the grandstands, driver’s side toward the grandstand, he did not drive down the front straightaway with his middle finger in the air the whole way,” Dale Jr. said. “He’s flipping a guy off, and he’s looking directly at the camera, and he’s responding to some fans who are probably two or three dudes in the grandstands that are probably sitting there double-birding him, and he’s just giving it back. And I agree.

“We need to embrace this to an extent. We call it out for what it is. They love to hate him, you know? And so, I’m good with it. I agree with this post here about letting it slide because it does add some color. You know, there’s not a lot of people out there willing to be the villain, to be the bad guy, to be the guy that’s, you know, not a lot of guys willing to do that.”

Austin Hill incident isn’t ‘black and white’

There are not a lot of racers out there willing to put their personality on the line. So many things can go wrong from just one incident or confrontation with another driver or with a fan. The Austin Hill situation was not a major incident. No one got physical; it was likely a brief moment, and it went away.

When the guy he was flipping off says he had a good time, you have to let it slide. Because at that point, you’re punishing a driver for hurting someone’s feelings where there were no hurt feelings.

Dale Jr. was not a fan of supporting penalties or a fine against Austin Hill. So, he’s probably glad to see NASCAR didn’t go that route.

“It can’t be so black and white. Look at the context here,” Dale Jr. said. “Now, had he done it all the way down the front straightaway as a bird to everybody, I’d say that’s something we need to get him in the room and go, ‘Listen, pal. That can’t happen.’ But this kind of stuff right here, it’s like no different than you know, Kevin Durant going on Twitter and going back at trolls.”