"He tried to kill me on the backstretch" - Cole Custer fumes at Austin Hill after Charlotte wreck

Cole Custer pulled no punches, slamming Austin Hill after the two got involved in a crash. The incident that took place during the final stage of the spring race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon resulted in Custer leaving the field with a DNF and Hill, settling for a P25 finish, two laps down.

Custer and Hill made several contacts as they battled for a top-5 position in the 200-lap event. Custer bounced back from the outside wall and doored Hill's number 21 Chevrolet. This contact blew off a tire in Hill's car and he veered straight into Custer's double zero in turn 1. Custer's car then brushed against the wall for a while before spinning towards the low line.

Moments after the race, a fuming Cole Custer opened up about the incident, saying:

"He (Austin Hill) put me in the fence off (turn) 4 and then we hit on the front stretch because I was gonna pinch him down. He decided to try and side-draft me and then we hit again. And then I don't know if we blew a tire at the 1 or what happened at the 1, and then he tried to kill me on the backstretch and just held it full throttle until he wrecked our car and killed the rear clip."

Check out Cole Custer's comments below:

Calling his fellow driver a "pissed-off teenager", Custer added:

"Slapped my head against the back of the headrest. I know it's hard racing but I don't like getting intentionally wrecked and killing the front rear clip on our race car. He wants to drive like a pissed-off teenager and it's ridiculous."

Custer stands third in the 2024 Xfinity Series standings with 433 points to his name. He is yet to pick up his first win of the current season. Next, Custer will run the Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Speedway on June 2.

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Austin Hill opens up as tempers flared between him and Cole Custer

Austin Hill during the NASCAR Xfinity Series BetMGM 300 qualifiers

Austin Hill believed he had not put Cole Custer into the wall and said that the latter might have "barely skimmed " it. According to him, the contact that happened due to Custer's Ford cutting his tire was the reason behind the larger wreck. As reported by Frontstretch, Hill explained:

“I just came off of [turn] 4, everybody’s on old tires, scuffs when we came in and pitted, and I slide, trying to stay off of (Custer), and his right rear barely might’ve skimmed the wall. Didn’t hurt his car any and then he completely lost his mind down the frontstretch, doored me so hard it cut the right front down.”

However, Hill felt he could have acted differently as he drove down the backstretch alongside Custer. In an interview with NBC Sports, Hill said:

“I think I overdid it going down the backstretch and staying connected to him and spinning him out. I shouldn’t have done that part but everything leading up to me and him destroying our race cars, that was dumb.”

Hill currently tops the Driver's point standings with 454 points under his belt. 2024 is his third full year driving for Richard Childress Racing. Last year, he recorded four wins, 16 top-5s, and 24 top-10s, besides three poles.