The NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Mission 200 at The Glen, was red-flagged Saturday evening with nine laps remaining following a collision between Austin Hill and Michael McDowell that sent McDowell's car careening across the narrow track through the carousel turn. With limited spotters and the drivers still bunched up following a recent restart, the crash collected 16 cars and caused substantial damage to the barriers.
All drivers involved in the red-flag incident have been seen and released from the infield care center as NASCAR crews continue to work on fixing the barriers to complete the remainder of the race.
McDowell took the biggest hit when Hill hit him on the left side, trying to pass for second. This came in Hill's first race back following a one-race suspension for turning Aric Almirola at Indianapolis.
While watching the replay for the first time, McDowell commented that Hill 'just turned' him.
"I felt like I got two good restarts there and was able to get back and take it clean," McDowell told The CW. "I didn’t rough up the No. 21 at all, but it just kinda felt like he kept trying to move me there in the carousel. I can see here, [Hill] was never going to get alongside [me] there, I was on the way out, he wasn’t even alongside, he just turned me."
Hill, who holds firm that he did not intentionally wreck Almirola at Indy, spoke to The CW while under Red Flag conditions.
"The No. 11 had struggled a little bit in front of me for a few laps through the carousel, across the middle, and the exit," Hill told The CW booth. "I thought that if I made it up front, I could get to his left side and have positioning to get to the left-hander. Obviously, I haven’t seen the replay, I don’t know if I didn’t get far enough beside him."
In hindsight, Hill thinks he should've pulled off and gotten back in line, realizing it was not a safe corner to make a left-handed pass.
"I probably should’ve just lifted and got back in line, tried again in another corner. I hate it for everyone involved; that’s definitely not what I wanted to happen, coming back from what we had going on."
Hill went on to say that it was his fault that it happened.
"As soon as I saw he was staying tight to the grass, I probably should’ve lifted. That was definitely on me, just driver error of going for it here, the No. 88 is driving away from us, it felt like that was one of those moves I needed to try to make a move as fast as possible on the NO. 11. It’s just really unfortunate."
You Might Also Like
Comments