Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighed in on Shane van Gisbergen’s shunt with Austin Hill at Chicagoland Speedway. Earnhardt believes it’s hard to point fingers at SVG without ‘admittance of guilt’.
During Stage 1 of the eero 400, Gisbergen found the rear bumper of Hill’s No.33 Chevy and sent him spinning. The Trackhouse driver later claimed that the move wasn’t intentional, but Hill begged to differ.
The RCR driver doored SVG during caution before parking his car in the garage. On the latest episode of Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt commented on the rivalry, saying,
“It’s wild when those two hardheads run into each other. I said it on the post-race there, a couple of big boys. So it’ll be interesting to see how this kind of resolves itself, more than likely nine times out of ten. It’s kind of a conversation that happens in the NASCAR truck, or they get them together eventually.”
“We’re comfortable to sit here and go, ‘I thought it was intentional. Zane, I thought it was intentional. SVG, I thought it was intentional and we can comfortably sit here and say that right, but for whatever reason and I’m sure there’s a good one, Nascar won’t assume NASCAR will only act when they’ve got factual evidence or an admittance of guilt,” he added.
Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill had a previous incident at San Diego Naval Base. Van Gisbergen was battling for the lead when Hill missed his corner and took out the road-course ringer, among others.
Richard Childress believes the Chicagoland incident was payback for San Diego, as he proclaimed on the radio once Hill retired. NASCAR, on its part, didn’t hand down any penalties to either driver.
Austin Hill shares blunt take on Shane van Gisbergen incident
Austin Hill remained steadfast in the belief that Shane van Gisbergen intentionally spun him out. He spoke to the media and said,
“I’m sure y’all seen the replay, so if I have to explain it, people probably need to get glasses.”
However, Hill refused to call it payback for San Diego. He found it wise to leave it in NASCAR’s hands.
Shane van Gisbergen ultimately finished 25th and saw no change in his Chase rankings. He currently stands 14th with 437 points to his name. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones are battling him on the Chase bubble.
As a replacement driver for the late Kyle Busch, Hill can’t contend for the Cup title, but is looked upon for a full-time role with RCR. The team recently announced that he’s a candidate for the seat as well.
In his nine starts so far, Hill has yet to finish inside the top-10. The 32-year-old has a single top-20 finish at Pocono Raceway.
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