Cole Custer on intentional wreck by Austin Hill: 'He tried to kill me'

Things got interesting between Cole Custer and Austin Hill late at Charlotte this afternoon. Custer isn’t very happy about it, either. The defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion got wrecked for what amounted to nothing more than hard racing.

Austin Hill has a bit of a problem when he doesn’t run near the front. He gets frustrated. Those frustrations come out and he usually lets it get in the way of making progress on the track.

Today, Hill picked fights with just about anyone who didn’t lay to the side and let them pass. He got into it with Sammy Smith and eventually Cole Custer.

Custer was more than upset and after he was released from the care center spoke to the media about Hill.

“Yeah I mean he put me in the fence off four and then we hit on the front stretch because I was going to pinch him down and he decided to try and go up and side draft me and then we hit again,” Custer said, via Stephen Stumpf of Frontstretch. “Then I don’t know if he blew a tire into [Turn 1] or what happened into one, then he tried to kill me on the backstretch and just held it full throttle until he wrecked our car and killed the rear clip.

“Slammed my head against the back of the headrest and I don’t know. I know it was hard racing but at the end of the day I don’t like getting intentionally wrecked and killing the front rear clip on our race cars. So, it’s just ridiculous. If he wants to drive like a pissed-off teenager, it’s ridiculous. I mean that’s why – I’ve said enough I guess.”

Custer walked away from the interview with a smile on his face.

Austin Hill does more damage to himself with Cole Custer wreck

Both cars were fighting to get back into the top-15. It was a late restart with 17 laps to go. Apparently, Hill didn’t like the way Cole Custer raced him and he cut a tire. So, he put Custer into the wall and ended his day.

Moves like this are ridiculous and they shouldn’t go unnoticed. If NASCAR didn’t call Hill and his team to the hauler after today’s race, then they made a huge misstep. Hill kept going into Custer until the car was destroyed.

There is no justification for this.

Not happy. Austin Hill sends Cole Custer around at Charlotte. 😳 pic.twitter.com/NFiX9lDn0e

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 25, 2024

It’s not like Hill fared any better, really. He put himself into the wall with Custer and would go on to finish P25 and two laps down at the end of the race. Had the 21 car just kept racing, then the finish would have been much better for them.

Cole Custer seems to be in a good head space about the whole thing. Something tells me that the championship patch on his firesuit lets him take his one on the chin and keep it moving.