Hill cannot complain about van Gisbergen bump-and-run – Hamlin

Van Gisbergen lost a victory when he ran wide at Turn 1 at the second Overtime restart due to a push from behind from Hill in the braking zone.

Having dropped to third, the New Zealander regained one position before he attempted to regain top spot on the final lap when he hit the back of the #21 Chevrolet at Turn 16.

Kyle Larson passed both and snatched victory, meaning van Gisbergen took the chequered flag in second place, after which he said, “I just stood up for myself.”

Hill, though, said he “just got ran over” and noted how hard the contact must have been considering the damage on the front of the #97 Chevrolet.

Hamlin weighed in on the subject on his Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin podcast, and sided with the NASCAR rookie rather than the Xfinity Series leader when asked if the latter had a right to be upset about the incident.

“I watched it just like every other fan did and saw Austin pushing SVG into Turn 1,” said the three-time Daytona 500 winner.

“Um, no, you probably can’t be mad; no, I would say not.

“While Shane’s was maybe a little more egregious, because he just drove in there – I mean, he just buckled his whole front of his car, he hit him so hard to knock him out of the way – it’s kind of, ‘Hey, you provoked it,’ and so you have to deal with the repercussions of that.

“So, I don’t think so. I thought it was just kind of a racing thing.”

Hamlin was also sceptical about Hill’s claim that van Gisbergen initiated the Turn 1 contact by braking early.

“I think Austin says, ‘Well, I think he checked up early’; I don’t know, it’s hard for me to believe that SVG is going to undershoot a corner,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 23XI Racing co-owner.

“Going into Turn 1 on a final restart, he’s pretty dialled on his markers, but Austin saw an opportunity to win a race there.

“[It was] one that he hung around the top five to six most of the day – it wasn’t like he just came out of nowhere – but he saw an opportunity, he tried to take it, and it didn’t work out but he still got a good finish.”

The second incident became something of a moot point for van Gisbergen when he was issued a 30-second penalty for a breach of track limits on the final lap, which dropped him to 27th.

Whether he would have picked up such a penalty had he still been leading and hence had unimpeded vision is another question.

NASCAR will review how it polices track limits after a total of 40 penalties were issued for cutting the circuit across the Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks races at COTA.

Oval racing returns this weekend, at Richmond Raceway, with the Xfinity Series set for a 250-lap encounter on Saturday (local time).

What a thrilling finish in #NASCAROvertime! pic.twitter.com/VkBVddChUQ

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) March 23, 2024

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