NASCAR has released its penalty report after a wild weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Tuesday, NASCAR announced that Austin Hill has been suspended for one Xfinity Series race due to his incident with Aric Almirola.

One of the biggest things that happened at Indianapolis was Hill right-rear hooking Almirola during the Xfinity Series race. After the incident, NASCAR penalized Hill for five laps, and he finished 34th. It was speculated that Hill could be suspended for one or two races because fans and experts believe the hit was intentional.

After the race, Almirola reacted to being hit by Hill. “It was definitely intentional,” Almirola told The CW, per NASCAR.com. “He (Hill) blocked me three times. I finally got him loose in (Turn) 3. He had damage on the nose, so he was really slow in the corners. It was time to go. I mean, we’re coming to nine to go, and the leaders are starting to put a gap on us, so it’s time to go. I got him loose, and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear.”

Additionally, two members of Erik Jones’ crew have been suspended two races for the No. 43 losing a wheel. Kellen Mills and John Rosselli will serve the penalty.

More from the NASCAR Indianapolis weekend

Hill wasn’t available for a comment after the race, but he told his team that the hit wasn’t intentional. “I couldn’t hang onto it. I did not try to right-rear him,” Hill told his team on the radio. “He had me out of control and I drove back to the left to keep it off the wall. I’m not sure what the hell he thought just running me over in 3 though!”

While the Hill-Almirola incident was not good for NASCAR, the highlight of the weekend was Bubba Wallace winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. It was his first victory in 100 Cup Series races, and he has now clinched a spot in the playoffs.

“Unbelievable,” Wallace said on the TNT broadcast. “To win here at the Brickyard, knowing how big this race is, knowing all the noise that’s going on in the background, to set that all aside is a testament to these people here on this 23 team. It’s been getting old right around the cut line.”

What kind of vehicle was Friesen driving?

What kind of vehicle was Friesen driving?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Saturday will be a day that NASCAR driver Connor Zilisch will never forget.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for JR Motorsports won the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“This is awesome,” Zilisch said in an IMS news release. “Those bricks look really kissable, and I’m ready to kiss them. Winning at Indy is awesome and getting 100 wins for JRM is pretty cool, too, so I consider this a pretty awesome day.”

It was his third straight win in the Xfinity Series, following victories at Dover and Sonoma.

The race aired on live on WISH-TV and the numbers are in. According to a post on X, formally known as Twitter, by The CW Sports:

• Viewership was up +23% compared to last year’s 21st race from Michigan (which aired on USA)
• Audience grew +6% over last week’s race from Dover
• Viewership peaked at 1,333,000 total viewers from 7:15 – 7:30 p.m. EDT

Overall, the event had 1,108,000 viewers according to the post.

Zilisch actually spoke with News 8’s Cody Adams earlier this year on Life.Style.Live! ahead of the Xfinity Series’ race in Mexico. Click here to watch their full conversation.

The next NASCAR Xfinity Series race will be at Iowa Speedway on Saturday. The HyVee Perks 250 will begin at 4:30 p.m. EDT and can be seen live on WISH-TV. It will be one of five races remaining for the series before the Xfinity Series playoffs begin.

The following are the remaining races remaining ahead of the playoffs:

• Saturday, Aug. 2 – Iowa Speedway
• Saturday, Aug. 9 – Watkins Glen International
• Friday, Aug. 22 – Daytona International Speedway
• Saturday, Aug. 30 – Portland International Raceway
• Saturday, Sept. 6 – World Wide Technology Raceway

The playoffs begin on Friday, Sept. 12 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Justin Allgaier leads the Xfinity Series standings by 21 points over Zilisch, although Zilisch has won five times this season compared to Allgaier’s three victories.

To re-watch Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 at IMS, click here.

What kind of vehicle was Friesen driving?

NASCAR suspended Austin Hill one race for intentionally wrecking Aric Almirola in last weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hill will not compete in Saturday’s race at Iowa Speedway. Richard Childress Racing stated it would not appeal Hill’s penalty. Austin Dillon will drive Hill’s car at Iowa.

A playoff waiver will have to be requested for Hill to maintain his playoff eligibility, but he will lose all the playoff points he’s earned and any playoff points he scores in the final five races of the regular season.

With the waiver, Hill will be last in points with 2,000 entering the first round of the playoffs.

Hill had scored 21 playoff points — behind only Connor Zilisch (29 playoff points) and Justin Allgaier (21) — this season. Hill has three wins and six stage wins.

Stewart Friesen will require surgery after his crash Monday night.

The incident between Hill and Almirola unfolded late in the Xfinity race last weekend.

Almirola got to the rear of Hill’s car and got him loose as they raced for fourth with 10 laps left in last weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The back end of Hill’s car slid out but he corrected the slide and straightened the car as Almirola moved underneath him. Hill’s car then had contact with the right rear of Almirola’s car, sending into the SAFER barrier nose-first.

“That was violent,” Almirola said of the crash. “To be totally honest, that was one of the hardest hits I’ve taken in my NASCAR career. The impact felt very similar to when I broke my back (in 2017 at Kansas Speedway). I’d be very interested to see the black box data from (Saturday’s) crash, but it was vicious and that’s just uncalled for.

“I got him a little bit loose to get under him because it was time to go. I would have never done that five laps into the race, but when you’re coming down to the end of the race at Indianapolis and he’s already blocked me three times, I certainly got him loose.

“I didn’t feel what he did was necessary. I felt like he could have easily fell back in line. He was damaged anyway. We were losing time to the leaders. It wasn’t like we were on pace with them. He was holding me up clearly.

“It’s just unfortunate. He obviously lost his mind right there. That was really bad judgment in my opinion.”

NASCAR penalized Hill five laps his contact with Almirola.

Chase Elliott leads the points but the next three drivers in the standings are within 20 points with four races left in the regular season.

Hill said on the team’s radio after the incident: “I couldn’t hang on to it. I was not trying to right rear him. He had me out of control. I was like jerk back to the left to keep it off the wall. I’m not sure what the hell he thought just running me over in (Turn) 3, though.”

After being told on the radio he was being held five laps for reckless driving, Hill directed multiple expletives to NASCAR.

Asked if Hill should be suspended, car owner Richard Childress said: “Hell, no. They didn’t do a damn thing to the No. 2 car (Austin Cindric). He wrecked Ty (Dillon) and admitted to it, drove him in the right rear and wrecked him at COTA. It’s who you are. We’re a blue-collar team. They give us trouble all the time.”

NASCAR did not penalize Cindric during the race for wrecking Dillon at COTA, but series officials docked Cindric 50 points and fined him $50,000 a few days later after reviewing the incident.