One of the hardest things for people to do, especially in a world where the hot takes and predictions flow from sports media like a monsoon onto your phones and laptops, is to admit when they got it wrong.
In the case of Austin Hill’s wreck with Aric Almirola at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I must admit that I was wrong in my judgment. I’ve seen enough evidence to be convinced it was unintentional, even though NASCAR made a call that sidelined Hill for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Hill was very adamant in the lead up to Watkins Glen International that the contact with Almirola was an accident.
“I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose,” Hill told NASCAR.com on Friday (Aug. 8). “So, I can at least take that with me.
“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. I would have moved him out of the groove and went on.”
He doubled down on that during a prerace interview with The CW, saying he’s honest about his intentions on the racetrack and citing the Cole Custer incident at Charlotte Motor Speedway last season that I, and others, referenced.
“I’ll probably get backlash for it, but absolutely not,” Hill said. “Basically, it was fully unintentional. It’s easy for me to say that right now with it being two weeks out, but I’m an extremely honest person.
“To put it into perspective with the Cole Custer thing that happened in Charlotte, the main reason I got that penalty was I told [then series director] Wayne Auton what happened and that I would take any penalty that came my way and hold it on my shoulders because I knew I was in the wrong.”
Honesty is always refreshing, even if it’s something we don’t always like to hear or say. It took some time after reading that NASCAR.com article and hearing his interview, but watching the race at Watkins Glen this weekend made me realized I had the wrong view of Hill.
So with that I have to make an admission and I have an amendment to make. I was wrong and led readers astray for any insinuation that Hill intentionally wrecked Almirola at Indianapolis. I no longer believe this to be what happened.
After causing a multi-car pile up off turn 5 during Saturday’s (Aug. 9) race, I have resigned to believing he just races like a moron.
Hill ran wide off turn 5 and got all the way to the edge of the runoff area, managing to get inside of Michael McDowell in a battle for second. For a little variety in his life, Hill left-hooked McDowell into the barriers to trigger a crash that took out over a dozen cars and forced the race to be red flagged.
“What the heck is that guy doing?” McDowell said on the radio. “I mean why would he do that?”
Someone on the radio had the answer.
“You know who he is,” they said.
The vibe was very different following this accident compared to Indianapolis. McDowell was quick to dispel the thought that he was intentionally wrecked. Hill wasn’t penalized and got to speak his case to the media, both during the red flag on The CW and postrace on pit road. While it was much calmer than his attempt at Indianapolis, he immediately was in defense mode.
“It’s just two guys going for it,” Hill said. “Nothing malicious as much as people want to try and make it more than it is. … If everyone wants to blame me for it, I’ll take the blame for it. I could have lifted and lived to fight another corner, and that’s not what happened. When you’re racing, things like this happen.”
Wait. Could have lifted? A reporter asked Hill why he didn’t.
“I did lift,” Hill said. “I did lift a little bit, I just didn’t lift enough. But if you want to get in the racecar and have a spin for it and figure out why I did or didn’t lift, go for it.”
Am I going crazy? Did a 31-year-old man, who earlier this season said in an Xfinity Series drivers meeting he wants to be a mentor for younger drivers, get out of his car and basically tell a reporter, ‘Let’s see you try and do better,’ after causing a multi-car pileup in his return from a one-week suspension?
Sure, Hill is better than probably 99% of the people who were standing on that pit road postrace Saturday. Then again, I feel anybody else who would have done what Hill did would have the sense to apologize. Say “I’m sorry.” Or “It won’t happen again.” He didn’t need to go the Christopher Bell route of shaking every crew member’s hand afterward — though he could probably pick up a hand sanitizer sponsorship if he did — but show you care about your fellow competitors a little bit.
Instead, like he did with the Almirola accident, Hill dug his heels in and defended what was an extremely dangerous accident. If you want to show maturity, that you can be a mentor and that a NASCAR Cup Series owner can trust to put you in their car full time, you have to learn how to handle mistakes the right way.
For example, I need to apologize again to the readers. When we at Frontstretch ranked the top prospects in NASCAR, I ranked Hill fourth. Dead wrong. There’s no way there’s only three drivers I think are more worthy of a Cup ride than him.
I’m sorry for my mistake of trusting Hill to figure out how to handle himself. Won’t happen again.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.