WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — On Friday at Watkins Glen International, Austin Hill walked back into the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage for the first time since officials suspended him for what they deemed an intentional wreck of Aric Almirola at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26.
Hill, however, is holding his ground, maintaining that the contact with Almirola’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was unintentional.
“I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose,” Hill told NASCAR.com Friday afternoon. “So, I can at least take that with me.”
RELATED: Watkins Glen schedule | At-track photos
With eight laps remaining at Indianapolis, Almirola packed air on Hill, moving the No. 21 Chevrolet up the race track. Hill made a stellar save and then turned left entering Turn 4. With the internal movement in the cockpit, in addition to slight contact from behind with Sheldon Creed, Hill connected with Almirola.
Following the incident, NASCAR officials held Hill for five laps for reckless driving. The Georgia native voiced his displeasure on the radio, for which he later apologized in a long chat with series director Eric Peterson. He also called Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition.
“From my standpoint, it was a full racing incident, full racing deal,” Hill said. “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. I would have moved him out of the groove and went on.”
In Hill’s mind, if he meant to wreck Almirola, he would have immediately owned up to it. He reflected back on an incident involving Cole Custer last spring at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the No. 00 Ford was turned into the inside wall after previous contact cut down Hill’s right-front tire. Hill had a conversation with then-series director Wayne Auton, admitting that he was guilty and that he would accept any penalties coming his way. Hill was fined $25,000 and docked 25 points for the incident.
To Hill, Indianapolis was another scenario entirely.
“This deal was a totally different deal,” Hill said. “I haven’t admitted to any of it, for one. I know for a fact that if I turned [Almirola] on purpose, I would have either said it on the radio or it would have come out by now that, ‘Yeah, I right-rear hooked the 19 on purpose because he made me mad.’ That just wasn’t the case.”
Throughout his career, Hill has made a name for himself as a hard-nosed racer who isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers. Though he was suspended for the first time in his career, Hill says it won’t change his competitive racing nature.
Over the last two weeks, Hill and Almirola have yet to speak. Hill would like to talk in person “because he needs to understand where I was coming from.”
“I’m not sure what kind of issue he possibly has with me, but in his shoes, he plays both sides, and I just don’t do that,” Hill said. “You get what you get with me, and you either like it or you don’t.”
The lone regret Hill has from Indianapolis is the way he conducted himself over the in-car radio. To Hill, one area he believes he can improve is managing his emotions.
“I told [NASCAR] I can’t go back and change it, all I can do is try to be a better person moving forward,” Hill said. “All of those conversations have been great. Conversations that I’ve had with my sponsors, partners have been good, but there are some things that they would like to see differently from me moving forward. I totally understand, and it’s something where I can put cussing on the radio on my shoulders and say that I need to do better and be a better person going forward.
“You don’t really know who is listening in, and when you’re in the heat of the moment, there could be a 10-year-old kid that looks up to you and is listening to you on the radio each week, and you go out and blast something like that on the radio. That’s not something that you should be doing.”
MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule
As far as Hill knows, the No. 21 team has had his back, believing him when he says the contact was not intentional. They weren’t pleased, however, that 21 coveted playoff points were taken away. Naturally, advancing throughout the playoffs will be an uphill battle, entering as one of the final seeds. Hill was granted a playoff waiver earlier this week.
Hill added that throughout the race week, he can already see a difference in the way the No. 21 team is prepping for upcoming races. His peers call him “110” for always giving 110% on the race track, so as Hill noted, it’s been bumped to “120.”
The first goal for Hill will be Watkins Glen on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he will aim to win a road-course race after four top-five finishes in the last five road-course events.
“The way that I’m trying to look at it on that side of things is, I feel like if I can’t overcome 21 points then I probably shouldn’t be the Xfinity Series champion this year,” Hill said. “I’m going to put those 21 points on my shoulders and have to dig deep when the playoffs start and either win a race or run inside the top three each and every race and hope that other guys have some issues.”