NASCAR Suspends Austin Hill for Incident at Indianapolis
NASCAR has suspended Austin Hill for one Xfinity Series race due to an intentional incident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he crashed into Aric Almirola.
Richard Childress Racing announced that Cup Series driver Austin Dillon will replace Hill in the Xfinity Series race in Iowa this weekend.
The suspension has also stripped Hill of the 21 playoff points he had accumulated in 2025 and prevents him from earning points before the playoffs, according to a new rule implemented before the start of the 2025 season. Hill will have to request a waiver to maintain his playoff eligibility.
Before the suspension, Hill was behind Connor Zilisch (29) and Justin Allgaier (22) in terms of playoff points. However, that count resets to zero, which reduces his margin for error during the first round of playoffs.
Hill, who currently holds seventh place in the Xfinity Series standings with three wins, will likely lose positions in the standings due to the suspension. Only drivers ranked in the top 12 advance to the Xfinity playoffs.
Hill argued that the contact with Almirola on Saturday was not intentional, but NASCAR imposed a five-lap penalty on him. After being informed of the penalty, Hill reacted with an angry protest.
Both drivers were in the top five at Indy when Almirola touched Hill to move him on the track. Hill corrected his car and then turned left to hit Almirola in the right rear.
Almirola spun out and crashed into the outside wall. Hill finished in 34th place, five laps behind. Almirola finished in 35th place.
