Chaos was quickly delivered by Chicagoland Speedway as NASCAR returned to the Joliet, Illinois venue after 2019. After three cautions in only 47 laps of NASCAR’s much-anticipated return, another flashpoint occurred when Shane van Gisbergen sent Austin Hill crashing into the wall. Right away, Richard Childress accused the Trackhouse Racing star of seeking retribution for incidents that had transpired over the previous weeks, turning what seemed to be just another hard racing incident into something much larger.

“Yep, it was just payback for California.”

Richard Childress shared what he thought had recently occurred without holding his emotions back. The owner of RCR went even further over the team radio a little while later.

“Somebody talk to NASCAR about that. That was blatant.”

Shane van Gisbergen made contact with Hill’s left-rear quarter panel as he entered the bend on Lap 47 of the Eero 400, which sparked the dispute. The touch sent Hill spinning before his Chevrolet slammed hard into the outside wall. This ended what had already been a difficult afternoon for the Richard Childress Racing driver. Austin Hill sounded equally convinced after climbing from his damaged No. 33 Chevrolet.

“If I have to explain it, people ought to get glasses.”

But according to Childress, the incident on Sunday didn’t start at Chicagoland. He quickly related it to what had occurred in California a couple of weeks prior. Hill was involved in a huge Lap 32 restart incident at Turn 1 of the NASCAR Cup race at Naval Base Coronado. Sliding into Connor Zilisch, Hill sparked a chain reaction that also gathered van Gisbergen, along with many other competitors. That wasn’t the only recent incident between the pair.

The week before California, at the Pocono race, Hill tried an aggressive three-wide move underneath van Gisbergen and Josh Berry exiting Turn 3. Van Gisbergen ended the competition outside of top-30 due to another collision that occurred when the three of them ran out of the racing area. The New Zealander didn’t hide his frustration afterward.

“Two weeks in a row, taken out by the same spud [Austin Hill]. It s—-. Tough one…Potentially, we were back in the race, and unfortunately, got taken out.”

With that history fresh in everyone’s minds, Richard Childress instantly saw Sunday’s contact as revenge rather than happenstance. Now, what remains to be seen is whether NASCAR reaches the same conclusion. Unquestionably, Hill and van Gisbergen have been involved in incidents over the past weekends, turning what seemed to be isolated racing mishaps into one of the sport’s most intense rivalries.

Officials may now have to decide if van Gisbergen just raced aggressively or purposefully settled an old score after Richard Childress publicly demanded that NASCAR examine the move.