Getty Austin Hill before qualifying.
Austin Hill wasn’t happy with Cole Custer in the final laps of the May 25 Xfinity Series race at Charlotte after he believed a move by the Stewart-Haas Racing driver cut his right front tire, which sent the No. 21 shooting up the track into the driver’s side of the 2023 Xfinity champ’s car and crashing into the outside wall. Moments after the initial impact, the Richard Childress Racing pilot showed his displeasure by intentionally driving into the rear of the No. 00 car and staying in the gas until the car spun out and slid down the track into the inside wall.
Shortly after, Hill’s spotter talked to his driver about a potential conflict brewing.
“Well, I don’t think you guys are going to have to worry about fighting because we’re doing it up here,” he told his driver.
@_AustinHill team radio reveals he wasn’t going to get jumped inside his car after incident with @ColeCuster at Charlotte during @NASCAR_Xfinity race.
Despite those words, Hill was prepared for a fight when the race ended a few minutes later.
“I’m not going to sit here and get somebody jumping me from me being inside the car,” Hill told his team over the radio.
“I’ve already said it,” Hill’s crew chief Andy Street informed him. “We’re coming onto pit road now.”
Austin Hill Saw Kyle Busch Get ‘Ambushed’ at All-Star Race
In addition to his spotter telling him there was an altercation on the spotter’s stand, there’s another much more public reason Austin Hill wasn’t taking any chances of someone “jumping” him after the race. He saw what happened less than a week earlier in the May 19 All-Star Race to RCR Cup teammate Kyle Busch when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and numerous members from his No. 47 team, including Stenhouse’s father, confronted the two-time champion in the garage by the No. 8 hauler.
After a brief conversation between the drivers, the 2023 Daytona 500 champion threw the first punch and chaos ensued. NASCAR announced a record $75,000 penalty to Stenhouse and multiple race suspensions for two crew members and an indefinite suspension for Stenhouse Sr.
Kyle Busch addressed the situation on May 22 during an interview on Kenny Wallace’s YouTube channel.
“I felt like I went into an ambush blind with him and his team having an idea that they were all kind of set up in different areas,” Busch said. “But I tried to hold my own the best I could fighting off five different guys and came out of there with no black eyes.”
Austin Hill Has Fought in Past
While Austin Hill was thinking ahead about the possibility of getting ambushed, NASCAR fans know he’s not someone who messes around when it comes to getting physical with another driver. He proved that in October 2022 at Martinsville when he had a disagreement with Myatt Snider after the race. Video shows the RCR driver violently punching his fellow competitor, which sent him tumbling backward on to pit road.
Hill’s willingness to get physical aligns with team owner Richard Childress who ironically scuffled with Kyle Busch more than a dozen years ago and said following the incident at North Wilkesboro he was willing to tangle with the JTG Daugherty driver in the future, if necessary.
Hill didn’t get physical with Custer at Charlotte, but based on the incident, there might be an opportunity in the future because this isn’t over.