NASCAR fans love drama and action, both, on and off track. Just as the Stenhouse Jr vs Busch was getting rusty in fans’ minds, a new-old rivalry seems to be breathing again. The drivers in question–Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill. Right now they aren’t just butting heads, but snatching each other’s win. And we saw that play out in action at the Sonoma Xfinity race.

The outcome almost seems fated, given the history they have together. SvG seems to be given a chance to even out the balance, and balance he did, in such a way that Hill pledged the fifth…no for real he did! So what went down? 

Shane van Gisbergen isn’t the one to be messed with!

To understand today better, we need to peel back the curtains to the race at COTA. Shane van Gisbergen was going to almost make it to victory lane except his sweet win was snatched and dished out to Kyle Larson. Courtesy, Austin Hill! Ever since that day, fans deemed Hill as the “villain.”

SvG did end up taking the revenge in Sonoma. Gisbergen entered the Sonoma race confident that he was going to win it. After all, road courses are his suit and he had an awesome qualifying. He also just won at the Portland race securing him a playoff point.

And into the Sonoma race, Austin Hill was in no way his competition. Instead, Ty Gibbs was. However, Gibbs was taken out because of a cursed crash and SvG found himself battling out for the win with his nemesis, Austin Hill. 

And he didn’t hesitate to door him and race to the lead. Austin Hill may feel cheated and angry, but Gisbergen just might have given him a taste of his own medicine. When asked about the incident to Shane van Gisbergen and if it was fair game, his stance remained clear–he did what he had to do.

He said at the post-race interview, “I don’t know. I hate racing and thinking like that. To me, we are both taking a race win from each other now. I didn’t go into the corner planning to take him out. Like I wasn’t gonna hit him off the track but I was tryna pass him and I did everything I could.”

But he said that he saw a window of opportunity when Hill chose the left instead of right at the final restart. And he just went for it. Well, his referring to taking a race win from each of​​her, clearly suggests that he indeed didn’t forget. And he evened it out, but what about Hill? Well, he does seem red! 

Austin Hill doesn’t want to comment on Sonoma incident 

Austin Hill led 21 laps and finished fifth, and in hindsight, it’s not a bad finish at all. But it could have been better, he could have been the winner! But well, we all know how it went down. And it’s safe to say that he was furious and didn’t want to talk much about it. And he didn’t want to blame anyone. In fact, to FOX he said–he pleads the fifth! Implying that he doesn’t want to talk about the situation. Fans came back at him saying “Love that he wouldn’t speak a word against him. Terrified of SVG out of the car.”

But according to Austin Hill, he just doesn’t want to comment and wants people to decide for themselves. He said, “I watched the replay briefly but I’ll let everybody else figure out what happened. It seems like any comment… or opinion that I have is always wrong. So, I’ll let them figure it out.”

Well, the people have chosen their sides, and it is clearly not his. What about you? Whose side are you on? Let us know!