Denny Hamlin discussed Austin Hill incident with Shane van Gisbergen

Denny Hamlin took some time to discuss the incident Shane van Gisbergen got into with Austin Hill on Saturday during the Xfinity Series race, prior to Sunday’s Cup Series race with the New Zealander.

During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental, Hamlin revealed he had a conversation with SVG during introductions for Sunday’s Cup Series race at COTA. The day prior, the New Zealander got into it with Hill on the last lap of the Xfinity Series race, leading to neither driver capturing the win.

Evidently, SVG isn’t used to being able to use the chrome horn to his advantage, but he’s not going to shy away from doing so, especially when he feels like Hill used it for his own personal gain.

“I had a conversation with SVG during the driver intros, before the Cup race. Just asked him, you know, about that last lap,” Hamlin said. “Like, how does — is that normal? He’s like, you know, because he was bringing up, ‘These guys,’ you know, ‘NASCAR, you guys just knock each other out of the way,’ and like, he’s like, ‘it’s just, it’s just different.’ He’s like, ‘I kind of like it. But you know, compared to what I’m used to.’ But I’m like, ‘So what would happen over in SuperCars in those situations?’ He says, ‘Well, normally I wouldn’t have to worry about the No. 21, because they would penalize them.’ So he 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.

“He said, ‘But I like, just hey, he did this. So I’m gonna just go ahead and get him right back.’ So he says it’s just a little different. Where, you never really have to retaliate in SuperCars, because the officials handle it. They officiate it like you know, like most series do.”

So SVG is used to the officials handling things, but he proved during the Xfinity Series race on Saturday that he’s not going to be pushed around, just because he’s used to a certain style of driving. Hill found that out in spades at COTA.

We’ll see if Shane van Gisbergen has any more run-ins with Xfinity Series drivers, or even Cup Series wheelman when he runs his limited schedule. Nevertheless, he’s taking to NASCAR like a fish to water, and that shook intimidate some of the best in the world.