Denny Hamlin has called out Austin Hill for causing the 16-car pileup during the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International last weekend. Hill had recently served a race suspension for taking out Aric Almirola during the Xfinity race at Indianapolis.
At Watkins Glen, Hill was battling Michael McDowell for second place. As they came side by side at high speed on the long straight, Hill made contact with McDowell in an attempt to prevent himself from crashing into the barrier ahead, where the track narrows.
The bottleneck forced Hill to swerve aggressively, hitting McDowell in the process, which then led his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to crash into the barrier and cause a big pileup involving 16 cars. Hamlin gave an unbiased assessment, stating that Hill should have lifted off the gas instead of taking out McDowell. Speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast, he said:
“I mean I think he covered it well. He could have lifted. He probably should have lifted. But he didn’t. He’s just not going to get the benefit of the doubt from the general public, but I am like, ‘OK, let me just think about this in an unbiased (way)’ — and I feel like I’m unbiased on Austin Hill.
“But even here he was there, he was outside. But here’s what he didn’t take into account, is that that is a part of the racetrack where the spotters have no idea where you’re at.
Michael McDowell, driver of the #11 Different Night Same Rodeo Chevrolet, (L) and Austin Hill, driver of the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, talk backstage during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Mission 200…
Michael McDowell, driver of the #11 Different Night Same Rodeo Chevrolet, (L) and Austin Hill, driver of the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, talk backstage during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Mission 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 09, 2025 in Watkins Glen, New York.
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“So thinking that Michael McDowell is going to know that you’re there at that portion of the track, there’s no chance. No chance of that. He’s supposed to go to the right quicker. So they both swung out, but Austin got the run on the outside. There’s a wall here. What the 11 should have done is hedged more towards getting, got to get back on the track sooner than later.”
The incident led to a pause of over 45 minutes as the barrier had to be fixed for the race to resume. Hill was still in his car when he spoke to The CW about the incident. He said:
“Mainly, I would get to people’s right sides, and that time, I ended up getting to his left side. I thought that it could work. We obviously don’t have a ton of spotters around here. I don’t know if he has a spotter off of that carousel corner.
“He might not. But as soon as I saw he was staying tight to the grass, I probably should have lifted. That was definitely just on me. Just driver error. I’m going for it here. The #88 is driving away from us and I felt like I needed to make a move as fast as possible on the #11. Destroyed a lot of race cars, so it’s just really unfortunate.”