NASCAR penalizes Xfinity driver Austin Hill over Charlotte wreck

Hill, the series points leader, was fined $25,000 and docked 25 driver points for a violation of Section 4.4B of NASCAR’s Member Code of Conduct.

The section covers actions including “wrecking and spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from competition,” and “any actions deemed to compromise the safety of an event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of competitors, officials, spectators, or others.”

With 18 laps remaining in last Saturday’s Xfinity race, Hill and Custer made contact on the track in Turn 4 while racing for fifth place which left Hill with a cut tire.

After the drivers door-slammed each other down the frontstretch, Hill then got into Custer in Turns 1 and 2 on the next lap and continued to push Custer’s car down the backstretch before Custer eventually spun and hit the inside wall.

“He [Hill] put me in the fence off [Turn] 4 and then we hit on the frontstretch because I was going to go pinch him down, and he decided to try and go up and side draft me and then we hit again,” Custer said after the race.

“I don’t know if he blew a tire into (Turn) 1 or what happened into 1, but then he tried to kill me on the backstretch and just held it full throttle until he wrecked our car and killed the rear clip. I slapped my head against the back of the headrest.”

Custer was credited with a 32nd place finish while Hill was able to continue and finished 25th, two laps down.

With the penalty, Hill, who drives the No. 21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, will drop to third in the series standings, handing the lead over to Joe Gibbs Racing’ Chandler Smith.

In other penalties announced on Wednesday, Truck Series crew chiefs Derek Smith of the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota and Dylan Cappello of Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 Ford were each fined $2,500 for having one unsecured lug nut on their respective trucks following last Friday night’s race.