A ton of attention has been paid to the Xfinity Series over the last week and change, due to the rivalry between Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill, which added another chapter at Sonoma Raceway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was very entertained by van Gisbergen and Hill’s clash in California, where the former owed the latter a receipt from COTA. During the latest episode of The Dale Jr. Download, the NASCAR Hall of Famer spoke on the rivalry as a whole.
“I don’t get that hyped up for the road course races in our series, but the end was entertaining, and SVG wins, I guess, two in a row now,” Earnhardt Jr. started. “So I think, how that plays out, with the No. 21, and everything that happened at COTA, that was good theatre. … I don’t know what to think about this. That was great. I mean, the race was great. The bird, the burnout. Everything that happened between them two. SVG gets out of the car and says it best, ‘We’ve both taken a race from each other.’ … I thought that, that’s really — that’s the etiquette, that they use in V8 SuperCar, which is very fair, matter of fact.
“… I don’t think SVG has a problem with Austin Hill. I think he and Austin Hill could sit down right now and go, ‘Alright man, we’re even.’ … I think if you set them at a table, and got them to agree, I think that that could be the end of it. I guess what I’m most curious about is like, where does it go from here, and will SVG continue to develop, to where this could play out at an oval somewhere, or is it only going to be in these moments when we go to the road courses, where SVG really excels.”
While Earnhardt Jr. believes van Gisbergen is ready to put his clash with Hill behind him, it’s not as simple as that.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Austin Hill’s bully reputation: ‘I don’t believe that that’s truly who he is’
Moving forward, Earnhardt Jr. examined what Hill’s next move will be, and how he can reshape his image, after losing a ton of — how the social media world says, aura — due to his battles with van Gisbergen and drivers like Cole Custer over the course of the 2024 campaign.
“Do SVG and Austin Hill continue to brawl? Unlikely, because right now SVG isn’t where Austin Hill is on the ovals. So this probably doesn’t have the potential to continue to fester. That’s one thing,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “The other is Austin Hill, how does he flip this narrative a little bit, that’s sort of been created, around his reactions to these moments? … The person that he’s kind of painted himself in a corner to be, in these last handful of weeks, is not really the guy that I think he truly is. … So what does he do going forward. Does he lean into this? Does he try to flip it? What can he do to flip it? Because I don’t really, truly believe that he wants to be that villain.
“He’s a big boy. He has a bit of a bully vibe, at times. But there’s other moments when he does — he’s just taking care of business. He’s just standing his ground. I can see him do something and go, ‘Yeah, if I was him, I’d have done that.’ … It’s sort of this domino effect, and he certainly needs to change the narrative a little bit. Winning a race and doing things like that will help, but I feel like he’s taken a bit of a detour, and he needs to go back and get on the right path, in terms of his reputation, how he’s perceived, because I don’t believe that that’s truly who he is.”
All in all, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be watching how Shane van Gisbergen performs on tracks other than road courses over the rest of the Xfinity campaign, and if Austin Hill can change the conversation surrounding his personality. If they clash again over the course of the season, so be it.
“I guess to summarize what I’m trying to say about all of this s—, about the Xfinity Series is the end of that race was compelling,” the NASCAR Hall of Famer delineated. “Great storyline, dramatic, good theatre, fun stuff. I don’t think the SVG, Austin Hill thing continues. If it does, great.
“More importantly, what does Austin Hill do to change the narrative a little bit about him, in terms of public perception, and SVG, his development, as a true NASCAR, complete package, race car driver. Those two things pique my interest right now.”
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