Livid Kyle Petty Brutally Slams Richard Childress’ “Punk” Driver as He Acquits Shane van Gisbergen in Sonoma Controversy

In his rookie year as an Xfinity driver, Shane van Gisbergen started strong with a podium finish at Atlanta. Then followed a drab streak with a lone top-ten finish at Phoenix. However, recently the Kiwi star driver stunned fans with back-to-back trophies at Portland and Sonoma. However, California had some on-track beef in store for him.

After earning his first pole spot, van Gisbergen led a NASCAR career-best 32 laps. Towards the end, he encountered his rival from COTA, Austin Hill, and the two engaged in a sideway battle. Van Gisbergen emerged unscathed, and his opponent clenched his teeth. Yet NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty strongly sided with the Supercars champ.

Shane van Gisbergen gets the green light

Back in March, a double overtime restart at the Circuit of the Americas witnessed an on-track duel. RCR driver Austin Hill shoved Shane van Gisbergen initially to snatch the lead. But the Kiwi racer got back to his heels on the final lap before Kyle Larson ousted both. This time at Sonoma Raceway, van Gisbergen got his revenge.

With 11 laps to go at the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 race, Hill chose the left lane sweeping turn 1, and did not leave much room. So Shane van Gisbergen collided with Hill and scooped up the lead. NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty recently explained why it the incident was on Austin Hill. “You opened up the door. You had control of the race when you took that green flag; you gave that little bit of extra room.”

After the race, Hill was evidently miffed, as he could only score a fifth-place finish. After two wins this season, the RCR driver seems to have finally met his match. Petty loves this and hailed van Gisbergen’s vengeful tactics that helped him soar to victory: “Let me tell you something. SVG’s got a little bit of a redneck in. He took that opening, he doorslammed him, sent him out of the way, and went on to victory. That’s not SVG’s fault…You open a door, that’s what a driver’s supposed to do: drive through it.”

After the COTA incident, Kyle Petty opined that SVG’s actions were well-deserved. Then he labeled Austin Hill for his aggressive mood, saying, “What we have here in Austin Hill, I think, is a little bit of a punk, a little bit of a guy with an attitude, and a little bit of a bully.” Additionally, Petty also curated a name for Hill like SVG. “And I know we called Shane van Gisbergen SVG. So in the future, I want everybody out there to call Austin Hill ‘Austin Freaking Hill’.”

And Petty’s comments seemed to hold true during as Austin Hill expressed his displeasure with SvG’s win with a unique gesture!

Austin Hill’s annoyance shines through

Like his Cup colleague in Richard Childress Racing, Austin Hill is also a ‘rowdy’ driver. Besides the two fallouts with SVG, he significantly engaged in some serious beef with Cole Custer. Hill intentionally wrecked Custer’s car further after on-track contact, getting a $25,000 fine slapped on him. But unlike Custer, Shane van Gisbergen actually saw through his revenge.

This tit-for-tat attitude invited some gestures from the Xfinity rival. While the former Supercars racer was showing off his dominance with a burnout, Austin Hill, in a moment of pure entertainment for fans, extended his hand out of the car’s window and congratulate the Sonoma victory by flipping him off!

However, he declined to comment on Shane van Gisbergen’s move in a post-race interview with FOX. “I’m going to leave it to the keyboard warriors on this. No matter what comment I say, it will be wrong,” the racer said.

However, the three-time Supercars champion’s Cup Series rival,  Denny Hamlin dissected the post-race celebration, saying, “It’s good for Shane and all. 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.”

Evidently, the sweet-natured attitude veils a fiery driving attitude within Shane van Gisbergen. This may be all he needs to pave a glittering career in NASCAR.