Sheldon Creed rips Austin Hill after being caught up in Aric Almirola scuffle at Indy NASCAR Xfinity race

Sheldon Creed had nothing to do with Austin Hill right rear hooking Aric Almirola with 10 laps remaining in Saturday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Still, the incident spoiled his race.

Creed, running just behind Hill and Almirola, had nowhere to go and made contact with a sideways Hill, losing a significant piece of his right front. Creed, who had his share of run-ins with Hill while teammates at Richard Childress Racing, scolded him after the race.

Sheldon Creed was disappointed that his race got spoiled as the innocent bystander in the Austin Hill/Aric Almirola wreck. More than anything he was shaking his head about Hill's decision-making.

"Gotta make smarter decisions than that. Like, the guy was still gonna run fifth or… pic.twitter.com/9vyV0igugr

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) July 27, 2025

“It’s kind of how our year has gone is getting caught up in other people’s messes all year. … Gotta make smarter decisions than that,” Creed told Steven Taranto of CBS Sports. “Like, the guy was still gonna run fifth or sixth there and took us out of it. … You’ve gotta make smarter decisions than that when someone pokes you or kind of gets you in the fence. I thought that was aggressive.”

.@_AustinHill initially makes the save before making contact with @Aric_Almirola, bringing out the caution. pic.twitter.com/baBqE2TGqz

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) July 26, 2025

Creed was running sixth at the time of the wreck. He finished a disappointing 17th. NASCAR, meanwhile, issued a five-lap penalty to Hill, who finished 34th. He was furious with NASCAR after receiving the penalty.

“Oh, they can go f*ck themselves. F*ck NASCAR,” Hill said on his radio. “That is f*cking bullshit… I’m f*cking sideways, I go to correct it back to the left. It’s locked to the left, and I run into the #19 [Almirola].”

NASCAR will take an additional look at Austin Hill-Aric Almirola incident at Indianapolis

NASCAR will conduct an additional review of the incident. Drivers have been suspended in the past for similar incidents. While Hill declined to speak with reporters after the race, a fiery Richard Childress shared his thoughts. He believes Hill shouldn’t 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.”

If NASCAR suspends Hill, it would be detrimental to his playoff positioning in the Xfinity Series. Per NASCAR’s updated guidelines for playoff waivers, missing a race due to a suspension would result in a loss of all playoff bonus points. Hill currently has 21 playoff points, third most among drivers.