The Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 250 was a joyous win for John Hunter Nemechek. While drivers were quite at peace with their Top-5 or Top-10 results, Austin Hill was down in the dumps. In fact, he was also heard telling in an interview, “Just have no friends out there, everyone’s my enemy.” Well, some people (read: spotters) beg to differ. 

Neither fans nor experts are particularly fond of drivers who are too self-critical. This was affirmed when Bubba Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft. In the Spot-on Spot-off session of Door Bumper Clear podcast, Kraft gave a firm yet contrasting statement regarding Hill’s claims that seemingly answered many questions.  

Austin Hill needed to be blocked, not helped, countered Freddie Kraft 

Freddie’s opinion was asked on Hill’s irritated remark post the Saturday race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Freddie couldn’t help but express his disbelief. “I mean, what do you want us to do? Move over and go? Get in the middle of our group? The whole point of controlling the race and, we have an alliance with RCR. So, I don’t know if that means we’re supposed to be nicer to him than we are with other people.” 

Further, Kraft mentioned that there was definitely no enmity for they had to struggle to keep up with Hill’s #21 Chevy. Hill’s firm hold over plate racing could be one reason for that. “And the couple of times that the 21, who I thought was one of, if not the best car on the racetrack at the time, he would get runs on Daniel (Hemric) and get underneath them. And then I told Chandler, ‘I don’t care if I have to hang Daniel out to dry. We have to block the 21. If they let the 21 get out in the front, we may not see him again.” 

He went on to compare Hill’s performance with that of Dale Earnhardt. He mentioned that instead of helping someone who was regularly into plate racing, he needed to be tackled. “We’re not enemies with Austin Hill. The guy’s played every plate race for two years seemingly. So, if that’s the guy, you’re not gonna help him! You have to control him, you have to keep him buried in traffic, people probably did it to Dale (Earnhardt) forever because they know how good these people are at plate racing.” 

The second reason why Hill shouldn’t be helped

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Kraft recalled the instance where he actually went out of his way to help Hill. However, Hill paid no heed to his guidance. This has perhaps hardened his resolve to not help out Hill in forthcoming races. 

“So I went down to the RCR spotters and I said, ‘I think that Sieg is essentially a Storehouse car.’ He’s a Ford Alliance, whatever that is. I said, ‘they’ll line up at the top, Sieg’s at the top – I think the double zeros are with them, we need to triple stack the bottom and try to make that work. Everybody’s on board, great.’

“We line up, Creed goes bottom, we go bottom with him, but Storehouse Cars go top and then Austin went top. And I’m like, ‘Okay, I guess we’re not doing that. You want our help but at the same time when we actually helped, you went the other way. So,I don’t know what you expect from us.’”

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Thus, Freddie Kraft managed to slam all claims Hill made about not receiving any help. While Austin ranked 12th in the Alsco Uniforms 250, it definitely wasn’t enough for him. How will this bode for him at Ambetter Health 200 on Sunday? One can hope for that day’s race to placate him. 

Read More: After Kaulig Racing Driver’s Furious Display of Discontent, Angry Fans Bash Justin Haley for Hanging Teammate Out to Dry.