![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292629725.jpg\")
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What NASCAR fans do not understand about Austin Hill.<\/p>\n
Austin Hill<\/a> would be the first to say he has made mistakes on the racetrack. Those slip-ups have caused a portion of the NASCAR<\/a> fanbase to resent the Richard Childress Racing driver.<\/p>\n Hill<\/a>, who was tabbed by RCR to replace two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch after his sudden passing on May 21, has signed a full-time deal to continue racing the No. 33 Chevrolet in 2027.<\/p>\n As the Georgia native continues to grow at the Cup level, he hopes his critics will silence a bit when they see the person he really is.<\/p>\n Hill hopes NASCAR fans see the other side of him<\/p>\n During his time climbing through NASCAR\u2019s ranks, Hill has been in the headlines at times for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n The most notable example was last year\u2019s O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Indianapolis. After contact with Aric Almirola, Hill retaliated by right-rear hooking the former Cup Series driver head-on into the outside wall.<\/p>\n Hill\u2019s actions led to a one-race suspension.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wake of last week\u2019s announcement of his new deal with RCR, Hill appeared as a guest on \u201cThe Gluckcast,\u201d<\/a> hosted by NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck. While Hill knows his relationship with the sport\u2019s fanbase is strained, he hopes to turn that around.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just hope that as this keeps going and as I get into the Cup level full-time next year, that people see the other side of me and they don\u2019t just see the things that have happened on the racetrack,\u201d Hill said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hill hopes to gain the fans\u2019 respect, but is not hiding from the fact that he has not been perfect.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to sugarcoat things. I have made mistakes in my career,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n Although Hill is not hiding from his past mistakes, he hopes fans will eventually see through it and recognize the type of person he is. The 32-year-old is driven to do whatever it takes to win in NASCAR, but also has a soft side.<\/p>\n \u201cI do have a good heart, a good side of me, a family man, have three kids, a loving wife \u2014 all those things. I really, truly care about everyone\u2019s well-being and everything like that. Just when I\u2019m on the racetrack, I\u2019m there to win and I\u2019m there to do the best job for my race team and sometimes it comes across the wrong way at times,\u201d Hill said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hill compares himself to Joey Logano regarding fan perception<\/p>\n Hill is far from the only driver who has had trouble being accepted by NASCAR\u2019s fan base.<\/p>\n The driver of the No. 33 recalled a recent interview with three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who explained how he is still resented<\/a> by a portion of NASCAR\u2019s fans for on-track mistakes from years past.<\/p>\n Hill considers himself on the \u201cJoey Logano train\u201d when it comes to fan opinion.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe Joey Logano was talking about it a few months back or so about how something he did when he was 18 is still following him to this day. Like, people hate him for something that he did when he was 18, but then you have like a Hocevar that he\u2019s doing the same sort of things and everybody loves him for it,\u201d Hill said.\u00a0<\/p>\n For every NASCAR driver, Hill said they are a different person when the helmet goes on and the green flag waves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all 40 drivers that are out there. When we put our helmets on, we are different human beings. We have a switch that is flipped and it is like full-blown kill mode. You\u2019re out there to be the best. You\u2019re out there to win the race and you don\u2019t care what it takes to get the job done,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n Along with currently driving the No. 33 Cup car, Hill is still competing full-time in the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series. Piloting the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet, Hill has two wins in 2026 and will begin the Chase from fifth position.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJohn Breeden<\/a> John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty What NASCAR fans do not understand about Austin Hill. Austin Hill would be the first to say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-880153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}