Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill always seems to have a target marked on his back. Even if he’s not trying to influence the outcome of the race, he manages to catch everyone’s attention. And this is something that happened during the late race dash during the Xfinity Series at Watkins Glen.

NASCAR’s up-and-coming and debut star Connor Zilisch had everything going his way to secure his first Xfinity Series win. But as always, a late race caution at the Shriners Children’s 200 seemed to have stalled his progress. Although the JR Motorsports driver managed to fend off the challenge on the restart, a big one erupted behind him in turn 1. And, unfortunately, it was Austin Hill who found himself on the receiving end of the crash.

Late race restarts are chaotic, to say the least, but at the road course, it notches a level above. As the race went green, multiple cars stacked up on the turn 1. No. 5 Chevy of Anthony Alfredo and No. 21 of Austin Hill perhaps came off the worst from this incident, as they had to call it a day after taking multiple hits to their race cars.

The #21 wasn’t in the picture in deciding the outcome of the race. But these late-race cautions and stoppages might prove costly for the No. 88 in his bid to win the Shriners Children’s 200 on his Xfinity debut. And this was enough reason for the fans to almost celebrate Austin Hill crashing out of a race.

Fans make a mockery of Austin Hill’s misery at Watkins Glen

With the multiple cautions late in the race, the race leaders and Connor Zilisch were forced to go into a fuel-saving mode. This group didn’t split the stage during the stage 1 run and therefore ran low on fuel. Moreover, this allowed the likes of Sheldon Creed and even SVG to get a win despite being in an inferior spot in the field. A fan evidently happy with Hill’s misery and cheering for the runner-up, wrote, “Austin Hill is out, and Creed is the highest-running car with a solid fuel load. America has won.”

The RCR driver has certainly had his moments with the fans. His rivalry with SVG has sort of turned into an epic tale this year at the road courses. But, to his frustration, he’s always been on the losing side and hasn’t taken the criticism of the fans well. Addressing this, Hill, in a pre-race interview, named his critics “keyboard warriors,” and it looks like they were quick enough to go right to work after his crash at the Shriners Children’s 200. The comment read, “I love to see Austin Hill lose #NASCAR.”

Usually, drivers like Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Denny Hamlin feel the heat from the comments made by the fans. However, it seems like Austin Hill has grown into that villain figure in the Xfinity Series. And this was evident from the disrespect in another comment, which shows a clear comparison of the driver to a trash can. “Austin Hill = 🚮”

In 2024 alone, Hill has 15 Top 10s and 3 wins in the Xfinity Series, thus securing his spot in the playoffs. Out of that, he has two runner-up finishes, which came at COTA and Darlington, where he was outclassed by SVG. If anything, he has to be considered a genuine contender to win the championship this season. But, all of this wasn’t enough for a fan, who just couldn’t appreciate his racing credentials, “Austin Hill is not good.”

Not just this, there was a conspiracy theorist who believed that all of these late-race cautions were planned and the race was rigged. This fan believed that these stoppages allowed Zilisch to save fuel, which he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do in a green flag run. “They’re stopping cause they want 88 to make it huh.”

Where Connor Zilisch made history with winning his first-ever run in Xfinity, A DNF result for Austin Hill isn’t a big blow either, as they are already locked in the playoffs.