NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran shed light on the officiating for Shane van Gisbergen’s shunt with Austin Hill at Chicagoland Speedway. He explained the reasoning behind the lack of penalties for both parties.
Van Gisbergen and Hill have had multiple run-ins recently. The RCR driver squeezed the New Zealander at Pocono, triggering a crash. At San Diego, both drivers were battling for the lead when Hill missed the apex, drifted up the track, and took out the No.97 driver.
This time around, SVG didn’t check up when Hill blocked his air, dove deep, and spun out the No.33 Chevy. NASCAR didn’t find the move intentional and cleared the Trackhouse driver of any wrongdoing.
In a SiriusXM interview, Moran addressed the matter and said,
“We looked at it very closely. We pulled everything up on Tuesday like we do. We actually had remote race control starting on that basically right after the incident happened. But we conducted our comprehensive review like we always do. We include everything from telemetry to radio communication, all vintage footage, race data, everything we have before we get in the middle of what really happened inside the race car. And there just wasn’t enough evidence there to say the incident was intentional,”
Right after the incident, Shane van Gisbergen didn’t show any remorse on the radio, but apologised to the No.33 crew post-race. However, he also absolved himself of any ill intention, claiming that Hill just chopped his nose and got tagged.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. backed up NASCAR’s decision and explained how they need factual evidence before handing out penalties. In essence, telemetry data revealed that SVG didn’t accelerate when Hill blocked his view.
NASCAR reporter reveals why Austin Hill faced no penalty for retaliation
Austin Hill settled scores when he doored Shane van Gisbergen during caution. He then dove into the pits and parked his car.
NASCAR didn’t penalise Hill for the manoeuvre, and reporter Steven Taranto shared why.
“As far as no penalty for Hill dooring SVG under yellow in retaliation, it sounds like that was viewed just as an emotion thing (And apparently, [Elton] Sawyer said “I would’ve done the same thing 30 years ago when I was a driver.”),” he wrote.
In contrast, NASCAR penalised Ryan Preece for a similar situation at Texas Motor Speedway. The RFK Racing driver was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points for payback on Ty Gibbs.
Notably, Preece had vowed over the radio to take out Gibbs before the incident. Meanwhile, Hill launched a coded message before his retaliation. The 32-year-old radioed his team to ‘just wait’, potentially hinting at revenge.
His team promptly replied and warned him not to talk about it.
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Austin Hill Reacts After Shane van Gisbergen Wrecks Him during Eero 400 at Chicagoland
