In NASCAR, drivers go from being complete studs to a sufferable bully in a flash. At least that’s what’s been seen with Austin Hill. While he had a swagger about him last year, now he is just a “villain” for some. In fact, people have started comparing him to Kurt Busch! Austin Hill’s actions in COTA towards Shane van Gisbergen just accentuated his ugly side further, according to many.

NASCAR fans are burying him with negative comments. Plus, if that didn’t weigh in enough, while he is portrayed as the enemy, SvG is deemed a hero. And not just by fans, but veterans too! But is Hill the character everyone is portraying him out to be? Recently, Dale Earnhardt Jr in his podcast highlighted his thoughts.

Dale Earnhardt Jr doesn’t subscribe to fans’ portrayal of Austin Hill

In the racing world, unnecessarily roughing up your opponents always garners backlash. SvG, who is also fairly new to NASCAR on track, didn’t forgive and forget what happened in COTA and gave Austin Hill a taste of his own medicine in Sonoma. He “doored” Hill away at the final lap in Sonoma and took the win! 

And if that didn’t burn Hill enough, Shane van Gisbergen also did a celebratory whirl just rubbing salt all over him. And since then memes, the negative connotations on Hill and him being painted as a villain and a bully are on. However, Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr doesn’t subscribe to the “Austin the villain” narrative.

Earnhardt Jr said in his podcast, Dale Jr Download, “When he came into the studio and we sat down and had a conversation with him, I thought he was a great guest. I think the guy has a pretty great head on his shoulders. The person that he’s sort of painted himself to be in these last handful of weeks is not really the guy that I think he truly is.”

He mentioned that both Hill and SvG settled their score, and he didn’t think this rivalry would fester anymore. But he didn’t fail to mention that what Hill did with Custer by wrecking him on the back straightway is – WRONG! He said, it was just inexcusable, and he [ Hill] shouldn’t have done that.

Dale Earnhardt Jr ended by saying, “Certainly, winning a race and doing things like that will help, but I feel like he’s taken a little bit of a detour. He needs to go back a little bit and get back on the right path in terms of his reputation, how he’s perceived, because I don’t believe that’s truly who he is. That’s one thing that’s concerning, and that’s what I’m curious about, how it plays out.”

As far as Austin Hill is concerned, he does seem tired of people’s opinions of him. After the race, he expressed his frustration pretty evidently. This clearly shows a man who is struggling with his public perception.

He has two routes: whether he wants to take the route to being the villain or change his persona. And he needs to do it quickly because there is no stopping Shane van Gisbergen. And while he is being hated, SvG is slowly creeping into people’s hearts and an insider even claimed him to be a folk hero!

Insider claims that Shane van Gisbergen is lightning in a bottle!

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If there is one man who is the talk of the town it’s SvG. This Kiwi racing superstar has taken the American racing community by storm! Gisbergen won two times consecutively, first at Portland and second in Sonoma. On PRN’s “Fast Talk,” the host mentioned that he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up winning all the road courses at Xfinity–and that says a lot. His performance has caught many eyes. So much so that Doug Rice, the president of PRN, claimed him to be a hero in the making. Someone who the sport needs now!

Doug Rice said in the PRN’s Fast Talk, “We’ve got lightning in a bottle here and the other thing, I worked as a broadcaster for the Saturday Xfinity race. That was nice in itself. But the thing that I figured out pretty quickly is there was only one driver in that field that people were actively cheering for in that Xfinity race, and that was Shane van Gisbergen. Every time he picked up a spot. Anytime he drove by that Turn 7 location, people went crazy. So we’re not only getting a guy that’s really competitive in that series and a heck of a road racer. We’re on the verge of having a folk hero and something that I think our sport desperately needs.”

And it is not tough to believe given that Shane van Gisbergen has been performing in a stellar manner. Let’s also not forget that he broke a record last year at Sonoma. And Rice believes that it’s only time before SvG makes it to the Cup Series. Although, right now, he is great at road courses, racing at ovals is an entirely different ball game. What do you think? Do you think he is going to be as good as someone like Larson or Hamlin? Let us know!