SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Aric Almirola crashed out in Turn 4 after right-rear contact from Austin Hill at Lap 91 of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Almirola and Hill were battling for fourth late in the Pennzoil 250 when Almirola got Hill loose entering Turn 3. Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet slid sideways, forcing the Georgia driver to save his car from crashing.
After correcting his car, Hill came back down the track into Almirola’s right-rear quarter panel. The contact sent Almirola’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota head-on into the outside wall as Hill spun across the nose of Sheldon Creed’s No. 00 Haas Factory Team Ford.
Almirola was unable to continue after severe damage to his front end. After being evaluated and released from the infield care center, Almirola expressed his perspective on the incident.
“It was definitely intentional,” Almirola told The CW. “He (Hill) blocked me three times. I finally got him loose in (Turn) 3. He had damage on the nose, so he was really slow in the corners. It was time to go. I mean we’re coming to nine to go and the leaders are starting to put a gap on us, so it’s time to go.
“I got him loose and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear.”
Immediately after the contact, Hill radioed to his team that the crash was not intentional.
“I couldn’t hang onto it. I did not try to right-rear him,” Hill told his team. “He had me out of control and I drove back to the left to keep it off the wall. I’m not sure what the hell he thought just running me over in 3 though!”
The portion of the wall Almirola contacted was not protected by SAFER barriers. Almirola was uninjured in the accident but said the impact was heavy enough to remind him of his 2017 crash at Kansas Speedway, which resulted in a compression fracture to his T5 vertebra in his back.
“That was violent, to be totally honest,” Almirola said of Saturday’s crash. “That’s one of the hardest hits I’ve taken in my NASCAR career. The impact felt very similar to when I broke my back. I’d be very interested to see the black-box data from that crash, but it was vicious and that’s just uncalled for.”
Almirola was credited with a 35th-place finish. As a result of the contact, NASCAR officials issued a five-lap penalty to Hill for reckless driving. Hill finished 34th, the only car five laps down. A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed officials will review the incident this week and that other penalties will be considered if warranted.
Hill was not made available for comment following Saturday’s event, but did speak with team owner Richard Childress on his way back to the garage area.
When asked if officials should suspend Hill for the contact, Childress answered firmly, disagreeing, pointing to a Cup Series incident at Circuit of The Americas in March when Austin Cindric was issued a 50-point penalty and fined $50,000 for intentionally spinning the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Ty Dillon, Childress’ grandson.
“Hell no,” Childress told reporters. “They didn’t do a damn thing to the 2 car (Austin Cindric) when he wrecked Ty and admitted to it — drove him in the right rear and wrecked him at COTA. It’s who you are. We’re a blue-collar team. They give us trouble all the time.”
