HAMPTON, Ga. — A quick rain shower had just ended when Shane van Gisbergen emerged from the NASCAR hauler following a 17-minute meeting with the sport’s officials and fellow driver Austin Hill.
The meeting was prompted by last Sunday’s race at Chicagoland, where van Gisbergen seemingly intentionally wrecked Hill, charging into the bumper of his No. 33 Chevrolet and sending him sliding rear-first into the outside wall. Before heading to the garage, Hill sideswiped van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet under caution in an apparent act of retaliation.
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No postrace penalties were handed out to either driver. Instead, they got a closed-door talking-to from NASCAR’s higher-ups. Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar are expected to be called to the hauler too.
Van Gisbergen, who has won two Cup Series races this season, didn’t stick around for a debrief with reporters. Asked how the meeting went, the New Zealand native said as he was walking away, “Ah, it went. It was interesting.”
Hill was a bit more substantive.
“Whatever. He didn’t want to make a comment?” Hill asked reporters, referencing van Gisbergen. “(We discussed) just the incident and how to move forward, that’s all. NASCAR let us know what we need to do going forward… We spoke. We had a conversation. We’re going to go race and, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
Last weekend’s race at Chicagoland marked the latest run-in between the two drivers who have raced each other hard in the top-level Cup Series and the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series over the past few years. After the race, van Gisbergen said he didn’t wreck Hill intentionally and was instead trying to get to the bottom of the track for clean air before Hill cut in front of him.
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“I’ll talk to him, but he just grunts,” van Gisbergen said after that race, where he finished 25th.
Over the radio, the owner of Hill’s No. 33, Richard Childress, believed the crash was “payback for California.”
That was in reference to what happened during the street course race at Naval Base Coronado on June 21, when a mistake by Hill led to van Gisbergen and his teammate Connor Zilisch receiving heavy damage. Battling with Zilisch for the lead out of a restart, Hill seemingly missed Turn 1 and van Gisbergen slammed into his rear, sending Hill into Zilisch. All three Chevrolets were ordered to the garage.
NASCAR rivalry between Hill and van Gisbergen explained
But the rivalry between Hill and van Gisbergen goes all the way back to March 2024 when the two drivers traded paint in an O’Reilly race at Circuit of the Americas. Months later, the two were battling for the lead in an O’Reilly race at Sonoma after a restart when van Gisbergen sent Hill sliding before going on to win. Hill gave van Gisbergen the middle finger as the winner drove by during a celebratory burnout.
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Hill and van Gisbergen were also involved in a wreck in a Cup Series race at Pocono earlier this season when Hill made the race three-wide on Turn 3. The stackup Hill created sent Josh Berry into the wall and the chain-reaction crash collected van Gisbergen too.
The incidents at Pocono and Naval Base Coronado came in back-to-back weeks. After crashing out of the San Diego street course — where he was the heavy favorite to win — van Gisbergen said that was “two weeks in a row” he had been wrecked by the same “spud,” referring to Hill.
Heading into Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway just south of Atlanta, van Gisbergen is in 14th place in the Cup Series points standings, two spots inside the cutline for the postseason Chase.
Hill is not eligible to compete for the Cup Series championship this season. Richard Childress Racing promoted Hill to the top-level as a replacement driver following the shocking death of Kyle Busch on May 21. Formerly the No. 8, Busch’s car has been renumbered to 33 since Hill has been behind the wheel. The 32-year-old Georgia native competes full-time for RCR in the O’Reilly Series too, where he’s fifth in points and owns two wins this season.
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Asked if things between him and van Gisbergen are settled, Hill said, “I sure hope so.”
Then, asked why he and van Gisbergen keep having collisions in races, Hill smiled and said, “That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer for it.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill remain tight-lipped on feud after NASCAR hauler meeting
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