NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer reveals likelihood of Austin Hill penalty after incident with Michael McDowell at Watkins Glen

Hill's Crash At Watkins Glen Deemed 'Racing Incident'

NASCAR Officials Say No Penalty Expected for Austin Hill

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, stated Tuesday that there are currently no plans to penalize Austin Hill for the wreck involving Michael McDowell during Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International.

Sawyer characterized the incident as a racing mishap, acknowledging that some drivers made questionable decisions over the weekend.

“We don’t see anything at this time,” Sawyer said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I think all of those incidents this past weekend — we look at them, we start on Monday looking at all the data and even situations that have not been viewed by our audience and even teams. We take a much deeper dive into that and what I would say to this past weekend, there was some decisions made that I’m sure today and yesterday that drivers would look back on — hard racing, but probably some decisions that they look back on as not any intentional or malicious intent, but I do believe there was some bad decisions that were made.
“But that happens in racing from time to time. We’ve all been there and seen it. We’ll review all of that again, but I don’t see anything at this time that would rise to the level of any kind of points or suspension or money or anything. Maybe some conversations, but I don’t see anything deeper than that.”

A Controversial Turn for Hill

Hill, returning from a one-race suspension, found himself in another controversy. Battling McDowell for second place in Stage 3, Hill moved to the inside of his left quarter panel. The two cars collided, sending McDowell into the wall. A chain reaction ensued, bringing out the red flag and involving 16 cars total.

Hill insisted after the race that he did not intentionally wreck McDowell.

“Just two guys going for it. Nothing malicious, as much as everybody wants to sit there and try to make it more than it is. It was just two guys racing it out,” Hill said. “I was trying to get by the 88 [Connor Zilisch] as quick as I could because the 88 was driving away from us and thought that we could maybe have a shot at racing with him and racing for the win there. Had a massive run off the Carousel. I kind of thought I was trying to catch [McDowell] off guard and get to his left side.
“The grass was coming up in front of us. I had to get to the right. I was kind of hoping he was going to move to the right and kind of give me some room, and it just didn’t happen.”

Hill finished fourth at Watkins Glen, while McDowell, making his first Xfinity start since 2016, placed 25th.