The throwdown between Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill at the Xfinity COTA race has everyone talking. Sure, Shane’s used to duking it out with Scott McLaughlin back in the Supercars days, but now that he’s racing in NASCAR, looks like he’s found himself a new rival from the states — Austin Hill. Even with Kyle Larson stealing the show and snatching the win with his incredible comeback, the buzz was all about Shane and Austin’s on-track clash. Justin Marks recently chimed in, saying it was all part of the learning curve for SVG. He reckons it’s just one of those things Shane’s got to pick up on this side of the pond.

Justin Marks emphasized how SVG should adapt and endure

During the race, Shane van Gisbergen was making moves, ending up tenth in the first stage and fifth in the second. With the finish line in sight and only nine laps left, he zoomed past AJ Allmendinger, bagging a lead of over two seconds. Austin Hill, who hadn’t been much of a contender for most of the race, suddenly sprang into action on the final restart. Finding himself in a prime spot, he nudged van Gisbergen at turn 1 and snagged the lead, managing to hold it tight even through the chaos of COTA’s infamous turn 1 on the last lap.

Hill was flawless, not giving van Gisbergen any chance to overtake until turn 15, where van Gisbergen finally caught up. But with Kyle Larson, a Cup champ, breathing down his neck on fresh tires, van Gisbergen was in a do-or-die situation. He made his move at turn 15, tapping Hill’s bumper and pushing both wide at turn 16, which opened the door for Larson to sneak through.

Justin Marks, SVG’s boss, shared his thoughts addressing the contact on SiriusXM NASCAR about the rough-and-tumble nature of NASCAR racing. While taking a sly dig at perhaps Austin Hill’s statements in a post-race interview, the team owner pointed out, “If there’s just a lot of guys out here that if they’re not fast enough to beach, then they’ll just knock you out of the way. And then, and think it was totally fine and acceptable. And then when it comes back around, you know, it’s a problem and it doesn’t work for them. […]”

Marks then continued, “These are just experiences. Yes, he is. He’s going to learn the people that he’s racing around and kind of what the etiquette is in the series. And I think that he’s got it in his mind that he’s trying to get as much experience and knowledge as he can in the Xfinity series to get himself ready to go cup racing.”

Even SVG, new to this kind of racing dynamic after his time in Supercars, seemed to resonate with Marks’ opinion, “I just gotta learn how everyone races here, that’s how it is, and, gotta fit in.”

And not just that. The sounds of Austin Hill and SVG’s revving engines even reached the Actions Detrimental studio where Denny Hamlin talked about the dust-up with SVG before the Cup race at COTA to get some interesting information.

Denny Hamlin recalls the conversation he had with SVG

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Denny Hamlin shared a chat he had with Shane van Gisbergen during the Cup race intros at COTA on his podcast Actions Detrimental. The conversation came after SVG’s clash with Austin Hill in the Xfinity race, which cost both a shot at the win. Hamlin asked SVG how things would’ve gone down in Supercars if a similar situation occurred.

SVG explained that in Supercars, Hill would’ve been slapped with a penalty for, let’s say, unnecessary roughness, leaving SVG to happily take second, expecting the penalty to be enforced on Hill. But, in NASCAR, there’s no such system to rely on, so SVG felt he needed to settle scores on the track. He pointed out the major difference in handling disputes— in Supercars, the officials usually sort it out, sparing drivers from retaliating. “So he(SVG) said that SuperCars would penalize Austin Hill for — let’s just make it up, unnecessary contact, right? And so he said, he would then just run second, knowing that the No. 21 was going to get a penalty,” Hamlin revealed.

Shane Van Gisbergen’s Legend Comes to an End at COTA After a Set of Humbling Results for the Kiwi

Yet, SVG made it crystal clear in the Xfinity race that he’s not one to be easily bullied, showing that while he might be new to NASCAR’s ways, he’s quick to adapt and stand his ground. Hill definitely got a taste of that at COTA.