Austin Hill lost his cool down the backstretch following a Turn 1 incident with Cole Custer in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and on Wednesday, NASCAR took action against Hill.
Hill, who drives the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing was found to be in violation of Sections 4.4B of the NASCAR Rule Book, which pertains to the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. NASCAR has fined Hill $25,000 and has docked the driver 25 championship driver points for his antics at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
With the penalty, Hill drops from being the NASCAR Xfinity Series point leader by four points over Chandler Smith to now being third in points. Hill sits four points behind Custer, who is runner-up in the championship standings, and 21 points behind Chandler Smith.
In the incident at Charlotte, Hill drove through the rear of Custer’s No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang in anger down the backstretch of the 1.5-mile speedway, which sent Custer spinning into the inside wall long after the two drivers had their initial crash.
After the crash, Custer took exception to the late-incident shenanigans from Hill. Following a trip to the infield care center, Custer said that Hill, “Wants to drive like a pissed off teenager.”
In addition to the penalties assessed to Hill on Wednesday, NASCAR also handed out two monetary fines for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series crew chiefs in its weekly penalty report.
Derek Smith, the crew chief of the TRICON Garage No. 5 Toyota Tundra, and Dylan Cappello, the crew chief of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150, have each been fined $2,500 for violating sections 8.8.10.4a of the NASCAR Rule Book. Both trucks had one unsecured lug nut in post-race inspection at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday night.
