Austin Hill deems his Darlington misjudgement “a racing error”

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Austin Hill shed light on his involvement in the wreck fest at Martinsville Speedway. Hill admitted that he "completely misjudged" the bump into Christian Eckes, which triggered a chain reaction involving two other cars and ultimately classified it as a racing error on his part.

In the final stage of the US Marine Corps 250, Hill was racing behind a train of cars that included Carson Kvapil, teammate Jesse Love, and Kaulig driver Christian Eckes. The #21 RCR driver felt that Eckes had used him up one too many times and decided to return the favor. However, he misjudged the bump and the resulting accordion effect, which ended up taking out both Love and Kvapil.

Austin Hill explained that several drivers were aggressively bumping and lifting the rear tires of their competitors too many times throughout the race. This irritated the rest of the drivers, leading to retaliation. He acknowledged that he misjudged his move on Eckes, admitting that he should have handled the situation differently. He said in the press conference [via Bob Pockrass on X]:

"I completely misjudged getting into the back of the #16 [Eckes]. You can go back and listen to my interview after Martinsville. Right when I got into the #16, I got free with the rear tires and I was starting to like wheel hop. So then I got off the brake pedal for a second, I got back to it, and I didn't realize that the #16 was already really tight to the #2 [Love] and the #2 was really tight to the #1 [Kvapil] and it just caused a chain reaction." [1:07 onwards]

"So I stand strongly on how the race went, as far as my part in it. I completely misjudged the #16 mishap and I wish I wouldn't have taken the #2 and the #1 out. But that was, I mean honestly, that was just a racing error on my part," he added [2:28 onwards].

Hill insisted that he wasn't involved in any other egregious incidents, other than a separate incident with Kvapil when the latter cut across his nose. The #21 Richard Childress Racing driver didn't lift, as they continued the battle side by side.

Ultimately, Austin Hill was the benefactor of the chaos at Martinsville, as the final lap melee opened the door for him to win the race.

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Austin Hill reveals NASCAR's latest stance on Xfinity Series officiating

Austin Hill celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series US Marine Corps 250 - Source: Getty

Following the Martinsville Speedway debacle, NASCAR officials held a meeting with Xfinity Series drivers at Darlington Raceway. Austin Hill shared that the sanctioning body urged drivers to clean up their racing and suggested that they don’t want to intervene in every incident.

Although officials will remain hesitant to make calls, Hill noted that NASCAR will step in if things spiral out of control. The 30-year-old said that it’s up to the drivers to do a better job when they return to the 'Paperclip oval.' He said [via SpeedwayDigest.com]:

"Well, NASCAR made it very, very clear that they don't want to be in the 'ball and strike' business. They don't want to be making all these calls. So they said for us to help them with that. They also said that if they had to step in and start making calls, black flagging people, parking people and doing all those things, that they'll do it."

The Richard Childress Racing driver said that veteran Justin Allgaier also shared his thoughts during the meeting. Austin Hill also had the opportunity to speak on areas where drivers need to improve. The series is set to return to Martinsville for the penultimate race, which has often witnessed chaotic finishes.

The Xfinity Series will return to action this Saturday (Apr. 5) at Darlington Raceway for the Sports Clips 200 at 3:30 PM ET.