Denny Hamlin: Shane van Gisbergen 'clearly gives no f**ks' doing burnout right behind Austin Hill

Shane van Gisbergen did a flawless burnout after winning Saturday’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 at Sonoma Raceway.

Making it even more iconic was that he did it right behind Austin Hill, whom he passed in controversial fashion to secure the lead with 11 laps remaining — a move which Denny Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast proves that he “gives no f**ks.”

“It’s good for Shane and all,” Hamlin said. “We didn’t need proof that he was good on road courses and certainly in the Xfinity Series, but he’s fun to watch. He’s got great technique and great car control and to watch him do that burnout right behind Austin — he clearly gives no f**ks, that is for sure.”

van Gisbergen passed Hill going into Turn 2 off the final restart to take the lead he would not relinquish. In order to execute the pass, van Gisbergen had to come on the inside of Hill while riding slightly in the grass. As a result, he made contact with Hill who did everything he could to leave van Gisbergen with no room. van Gisbergen won the race, while Hill finished P5.

In van Gisbergen’s mind, the two are now even. Hill cost him a shot at winning at COTA back in March, a race ultimately won by Kyle Larson.

Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill rivalry heats up at Sonoma

“I hate racing and thinking like that, but to me, we’ve both taken a race win off each other now,” van Gisbergen said. “I don’t know. Didn’t go into the corner planning to take him out. Like, I wasn’t going to hit him off the track, but I was gonna try to pass him and I did everything I could. And when he kept choosing left on restarts, I was like ‘oh, that’s surprising,’ because I chose the left on the first restart, and it was a mistake. And if I had the opportunity again, I would have chosen the right every time.

“So as soon as he chose the left, I knew, OK, this is a good opportunity to hang around the outside [of Turn 1] and force my way to the inside at Turn 2. And, like, I didn’t take him out properly, you know? I just made a hole and got through.”

As for Hill, he wanted no part of giving his true opinion, simply offering to “plead the fifth.”

“I didn’t really see the replay the best – blacked out – but, you know, I’m just going to leave it to the keyboard warriors on this one; I’ll let them figure out what happened,” Hill said. “I’m sure, no matter what comment I say, it’ll be wrong. … I don’t know… I plead the fifth; I’m not going to say anything about it. We’ll just go on to the next one. Good hard racing, the Bennett Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity internet, we were holding off SVG there for a while.

“I had that caution, I knew it was going to be tough on the restart, and it didn’t work out, but we had a good points day, finished in the top five… Can’t ask for more than that.”