Calls Mount to “Ban” Richard Childress’ Star Driver After Causing Horrifying Crash at the Glen

The Watkins Glen Xfinity race wasn’t short of drama. And with Austin Hill’s return after his one-race ban, he seems to have come with loads of it. Known for his no-nonsense driving style and ability to muscle his way through the field, the Richard Childress Racing driver entered Watkins Glen—complete with a mix of high-speed traits, technical corners, and a passionate New York crowd—looking to present himself as a worthy contender after his Xfinity Series Playoffs waiver. Unfortunately, by the end of the race, Hill didn’t escape surmounting calls by the NASCAR community yet again, thanks to his debacle with Michael McDowell…

Hill’s day started well. Starting from 10th place, while he dropped down to the 23rd position in Stage 1, he settled at P4 in Stage 2. However, as he was picking up some serious speed with eight laps to go, a late-race collision between the Hill and McDowell sparked a massive pileup. While battling the Kaulig Racing driver, Zane Smith and Sam Mayer to catch up to race leader Connor Zilisch at Lap 74, the RCR race tried an aggressive move, running wide at Turn 5 and getting to the inside of McDowell’s left quarter panel just before entering the carousel.

The contact sent the latter violently into the guardrail—his car went airborne, spun across the track, and triggered a massive wreck with over a dozen cars, involving William Sawalich, Taylor Gray, Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Josh Bilicki, Kyle Sieg, Ryan Ellis, Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements, among others. Notably, a tire flew off McDowell’s car and landed on Sawalich’s Toyota. Spotters frantically radioed drivers to stop, but several slammed into the wreckage anyway. The race also had to be halted on red for over 45 minutes as the guardrail needed major repairs. From the grandstands, it was one of the wildest scenes Watkins Glen has seen in years. McDowell’s exasperated radio message only fueled the anger.

“What the heck is that guy doing? I mean, why would he do that?… He hooked me,” the driver complained. In an interview later, he further remarked, “I felt like I got two good restarts there and was able to take the lead clean. I didn’t rough up the 21 (Hill) at all I didn’t feel like, but it just kind of felt like he kept trying to move me there in the carousel. Then, I was all the way out, and he wasn’t even alongside. Just turned me. Just unfortunate, but that’s racing.” Austin Hill, on the other hand, took the blame for the incident.

In a conversation with CW analyst and former driver Jamie McMurray via two-way radio, the #21 explained, “The 11 (McDowell) had been struggling a little bit in front of me for a few laps through the carousel, across the middle on his exit. I thought … I could get to his left side and kind of have positioning getting into the left hander at 10…Hindsight, I probably should have just lifted and got back in line and lived to fight another corner. I hate it for everyone involved. That’s definitely not what I wanted to happen coming back from what we had going on.”

“As soon as I saw that he was staying tight to the grass, I probably should have lifted. That was definitely just on me, just a driver error. The 88 (eventual winner Connor Zilisch) was driving away from us. I felt like that was one of those moves that I just needed to try to make a move as fast as possible on the 11 (McDowell) and destroyed a lot of race cars. It’s just really unfortunate,” Hill concluded. But, looks like no amount of explanation is going to satisfy fans, who went all out with calls for a ban.

Online, fans speculated about Hill’s future in NASCAR. One fan didn’t hold back. “Watch Hill be suspended for the next two races and lose his waiver.”

Another took it further, saying, “NASCAR needs to remove Austin Hill from racing for the rest of the year. The guy is a joke.” But this comment takes the cake, as one social media user really channeled all their energy writing, “ This is why 1 suspensions aren’t sufficient. It’s not a deterrent for poor racing etiquette behavioural issues.”

Top Comment by me again

Aggression is part of the game, always has been. But since NASCAR won’t settle on clear rules, penalties, violations etc....more

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Debate

And then there was one X user who commented, “Austin Hill should be racing Remote Control cars in his basement,” while another wrote, “Suspend the 21 again for 2 weeks. Remove him from playoffs“. One NASCAR spectator, on the other hand, peeled back more layers as they wrote, “It’s one of those ? moments in NASCAR AGAIN. Some drivers can get away with some things while the others have to bite the bullet,set back and watch it all happen again. They’ll say “that’s just racing” while others see the adrenaline aggression within “that’s just racing” added.”

One user warned, “There’s gonna a Dale Sr the Intimidator moment or a Ryan Newman the Rocketman moment.” Some other comments read, “That’s unacceptable coming off a suspension”, “@_AustinHill needs to be suspended FOR GOOD! Enough with this type of driving! #nascar”, “Of course it was the 21 again…”, “Let Austin run open cockpit cars like Indy or Formula One. He’ll learn real quick about unnecessary rubbing and contact.”

NASCAR, however, is yet to make a decision about. Could this be Austin Hill’s second race ban this season? Meanwhile, Michael McDowell has even more on the line this weekend as he takes on double duty.

“It’s do or die,” Michael McDowell sounds off on his pursuit of a playoff spot in the Cup Series

Michael McDowell entered the Mission 200 at Watkins Glen running strong in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, starting at P12 and quickly settling into a competitive rhythm. Throughout the early stages of the race, McDowell consistently stayed near the front of the pack. Despite finishing 28th by stage one, McDowell showed serious pace by stage two. He was comfortably running at P6. But as the race progressed, Michael found himself battling fearlessly with Austin Hill for second place.

The two drivers traded paint multiple times, each pushing their limits on the technical turns and fast straights of the Glen. McDowell managed to briefly take the lead after a restart around lap 72, fending off Austin Hill’s pressure, only to have Austin claw back and keep the contest intense. It was a tense, high-speed duel that had fans on the edge of their racing seats. However, it was Austin Hill who managed to end McDowell’s day. But now, McDowell has more at stake, as he will also run the NASCAR Cup Series at the Glen, performing the double duty.

The intensity surrounding Watkins Glen is not entirely lost on McDowell, who recognizes the race as a potential turning point and the pursuit of his postseason qualification. Acknowledging the challenges posed by upcoming tracks like Richmond and Daytona, he has emphasized the victory of securing a win at Watkins Glen to earn a place in the playoffs.

Drawing from his extensive experience in high-pressure situations, Michael expressed confidence in his team’s ability to perform under the mounting pressure as the season progresses. Right before the weekend, he said, “It’s do or die for sure, yeah. I mean, yes, we have more opportunities. I mean, we’re not we can go to Richmond and run well too, and obviously, Daytona, I feel like we have a shot at it. But to me, this is the only way you control your own destiny is to win here. The other two are very tough to execute and have everything go your way, so times winding down, as you guys know, right? And, the pressure always ramps up as the times winding down, but I’ve been in the spot before, and, yeah, definitely feel confident that our road course programs, you know, been really good. And if we do our job and we have a fast car and we qualify well today, and we can start up front, we’ll have a shot at it.”

In the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Watkins Glen, McDowell secured a commendable sixth-place start position with a lap time of 1:12.180, achieving a speed of 122.195 mph. The performance places him into serious competition, and as the Cup garage looks forward to Sunday’s race, all eyes will be on McDowell to recover from his horrifying Xfinity incident.