Austin Hill has maintained that he did not intentionally bump into Aric Almirola in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Indianapolis, a collision which was deemed as ‘reckless driving’.

Hill had his car brushed into by Almirola at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, before responding by bumping the right-rear fender of Almirola’s car in Turn 4, causing him to crash head on into the retaining wall. 

Almirola believed the incident to be intentional by Hill, who then learned that he’d be suspended for one race – while losing significant points that could hamper his playoff hopes.

Team owner Richard Childress initially defended Hill  when asked if he should be banned from future races. But after the announcement of Hill’s punishment, the racing team tweeted that they would not appeal NASCAR’s decision – seemingly accepting the ruling.

And despite missing out on the race in Iowa last weekend, Hill maintained his innocence after he returned to the Xfinity Series this weekend.

He told reporters: “I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose. So, I can at least take that with me.”

He added: “From my standpoint, it was a full racing incident, full racing deal. I pleaded my case to NASCAR and everyone. I told [Peterson] everything that went down, showed him the SMT data, showed him that [Creed] and I were together before making contact with [Almirola].

“From my standpoint, it was fully unintentional. It wasn’t one of those lose your mind moments and turn to the left. I feel like I’m a smarter racer than that.

“If I was mad about him getting into the back of me, I would have waited until Turn 1 and shipped him like he shipped me in Turn 3. That would have been it. I would have moved him out of the groove and went on.”

DON’T MISS…

On Saturday, Hill found himself in another incident on his return to the Xfinity Series, being the cause of a 16-car wreck while admitting blame.

He said: “I know the grass was coming up. We ran out of real estate. I should have just lifted, got back in line and lived to fight another corner.

“I hate it for everyone involved. That’s definitely not what I want to happened, coming back from what we got going on. That was definitely just on me. Just a driver error, I’m just going for it here. I needed to make a move as fast as possible on the No. 11.”