NASCAR reveals Austin Hill penalty after Aric Almirola incident at Indianapolis

NASCAR has suspended Austin Hill for this Saturday’s HyVee Perks 250 Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway. Hill’s one-race suspension comes after he intentionally right rear hooked Aric Almirola in retaliation with 10 laps remaining in this past Saturday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

At the time, NASCAR issued him a five-lap penalty for wrecking Almirola. They’ve now dropped the hammer, and the suspension will be detrimental to Hill’s bid to win the championship. Per NASCAR’s updated guidelines for playoff waivers, missing a race due to a suspension results in a loss of all playoff bonus points. Hill had 21 playoff points prior to the suspension, third most among drivers.

Hill, who finished 34th after serving the penalty, declined to speak with reporters after the race. Richard Childress, however, delivered a fiery response to NASCAR. He didn’t believe his driver should be suspended.

“Hell no. They didn’t do a damn thing to the 2 car [of Austin Cindric] when they, he wrecked Ty [Dillon] and admitted to it,” Childress said. “Drove him in the right rear and wrecked him at COTA. It’s who you are. We’re a blue-collar team, they give us trouble all the time.”

Almirola felt it was clearly intentional. He described the hit as one of the hardest he’s taken in his NASCAR career. Almirola hit the wall in Turn 3 head-on where there was no SAFER Barrier.

“Oh, it was definitely intentional,” Almirola said. “He blocked me three times, and I finally got him loose into [Turn] 3. He had damage on the nose, so he was really slow in the corners. It was time to go. We’re coming down to ten laps to go and the leaders are starting to put a gap on us. It’s time to go, I got him loose, and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear.

“Honestly one of the biggest hits in my entire NASCAR career. Very reminiscent of the hit I took when I broke my back.”