NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Austin Hill is returning from his one-race suspension on Saturday for his actions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Pennzoil 250. Now two weeks removed from his incident with Aric Almirola, Hill is doubling down on his proclaimed innocefnce.

Speaking to Dustin Albino of NASCAR.com, Hill defended his move at Indy. Coming off a one-race suspension, he explained that what happened was “fully unintentional” and he would’ve done it at a different act if he wanted to turn Almirola intentionally.

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“I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose. From my standpoint, it was a full racing incident, full racing deal. I pleaded my case to NASCAR and everyone. I told [Peterson] everything that went down, showed him the SMT data, showed him that [Creed] and I were together before making contact with [Almirola]. From my standpoint, it was fully unintentional. It wasn’t one of those lose your mind moments and turn to the left. I feel like I’m a smarter racer than that. If I was mad about him getting into the back of me, I would have waited until Turn 1 and shipped him like he shipped me in Turn 3. That would have been it.”

Austin Hill on the moment at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

With eight laps to go in the Pennzoil 250, Almirola’s car moved Hill up the race track and the No. 21 car saved it before Turn 4. Once Hill saved it, avoiding a collision with the wall, the front driver’s side turned and right hooked Almirola, sending the No. 19 turning and crashing nose-first into the wall.

Almirola’s day was immediately over and NASCAR officials parked him on pit lane for a five-lap penalty for reckless driving. As he sat in his pit stall, with the five-lap penalty having no real consequence because the car was heavily damaged, Hill cursed out NASCAR on the radio.

  • Austin Hill stats (Xfinity Series): 650 points, 3 wins, 12 top 10s, 9 top 5s, 3 DNFs, 287 laps led, 9.048 average starting position, 13.095 average finishing position

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Hill and team owner Richard Childress have adamantly defended the move as an unintentional act, despite footage showing Hill’s gloves turn the wheel to right hook Almirola after the car was already saved. Given Hill’s history of reckless driving, including this season, NASCAR determined his actions warranted a one-race suspension.

Far costlier than the one-race suspension is what happened because of the new NASCAR rules implemented this season. Because Hill’s waiver to be granted a spot in the playoffs for missing a race was granted, he had to forfeit all of his playoff points (21, third-most in Xfinity Series) and he’s ineligible for any playoff points during the remainder of the regular season.

While many NASCAR fans were displeased that Hill received the waiver, it was always the expectation that it would be granted. However, the loss of his playoff points and the fact that he’ll start with 0 points when the playoffs begin will very likely prevent him from winning the Xfinity Series championship in 2025.

NFL, MLB & college football writer for Sportsnaut. Graduated from San Diego State University with BA in Journalism, 2019. … More about Matt Johnson