Fans Jump on Austin Hill Hate Train After Shane van Gisbergen’s Savage Diss

The Xfinity Series has witnessed a brewing rivalry between Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill. In last week’s Sonoma race, both drivers added another chapter in their feud with SVG coming out as the winner that time around. While the Kiwi enjoyed it, the fans seem to be on his side, especially with the hatred involving Hill.

It is no secret how Austin Hill is a tricky character. His reputation of getting involved in on-track feuds doesn’t help him either. While Hill pleaded the fifth after the race at Sonoma, Shane van Gisbergen’s recent act has made the fans grow only more in awe of the New Zealander.

Shane van Gisbergen is slowly becoming a fan favorite with his savage mentality

After winning his debut race in the Cup Series last year at Chicago, Shane van Gisbergen impressed plenty. While he plans to gradually grow and compete full-time in NASCAR’s top-tier competition, his full-time debut season in the Xfinity Series is turning out to be a productive one so far.

Given the challenging nature of stock car racing in the United States, it was understandable why Justin Marks wanted SVG to gain experience with the Xfinity Series first. So far, the Kiwi has done well with two wins, three top-five, and four top-ten finishes to his name in 14 races.

Interestingly, his two wins have come in back-to-back races, including the one at Sonoma last weekend. This came after his debut win at Portland International Raceway. While Shane van Gisbergen slowly gets to know what it takes to win, he surely is getting familiar with the battles that need to be won.

One of the best examples of that is his on-track rivalry with Austin Hill. Back in March at Circuit of The Americas, Hill was guilty of shoving the Kiwi wide in an overtime restart. This not only ended SVG’s hopes of winning his debut Xfinity race, but also allowed Kyle Larson to triumph.

However, the Auckland-born driver used this incident as a catalyst in his victory at Sonoma. With 11 laps remaining, after the final restart, SVG found a chance to pass Hill but in the process ended up bumping the Richard Childress Racing driver out of the way.

While it might not have been intentional, Shane van Gisbergen didn’t hesitate even once. In fact, after the end of the race, SVG claimed the act to be “hundred percent” fair. While the Kiwi showed his savage side here, it only got more brutal after what he did with one of his autograph acts. In fact, the fans supported it with some strong comments for Austin Hill.

Fans join the Austin Hill hate bandwagon as Shane van Gisbergen turns on the banter mode

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Austin Hill is in his third full-time season in the Xfinity Series with Richard Childress Racing. While he grew up the ladder with some fine performances in the Truck Series, the results have been there in the Xfinity Series. However, what has gone wrong for the 30-year-old is his reactions to on-track feuds.

Last year, the incident with Sheldon Creed that saw both him and Creed get eliminated from the playoffs at Martinsville still remains fresh in the fans’ minds. His run-in with Myatt Snider isn’t fondly remembered as well. If that wasn’t enough, his involvement in the incident with Cole Custer at Charlotte only attracted more criticism.

While fans are wary of this, Austin Hill shoving Shane van Gisbergen at the COTA wasn’t appreciated. While SVG kept that in mind, so did the fans when the Kiwi bumped him out at Sonoma last weekend. With the fans siding with the #97 driver, they only got more supportive after van Gisbergen instigated a savage banter recently.

As reported on Reddit by a fan, during one of SVG’s autograph sessions, he signed a page showcasing him as the owner of Baby Hill.

While the image was captioned as “King of the Hill,” the Kiwi driver didn’t hesitate once in signing it. Interestingly, the fans loved it as they showed more criticism towards Austin Hill seeing this banter.

One of them said, “It seems like I find a new reason to dislike Hill to the point where I can no longer ask myself if I’m just biased and it’s forming a negative opinion of him. But no, everything I see him do or say makes me think “what a f**king tool” so I can’t chalk it up to coincidence or my bias, the kids just an a**hole.”

Another fan tried some literal banter with the post. He said, “Even funnier because Hill is a giant man baby.” One of the fans had a wild suggestion to infuriate Hill more. He advised, “Hang it in the Louvre”. On the other hand, one fan imagined what would have happened had someone gone to Hill for his autograph on the same page.

The fan said, “Hill’s the type to tear it in half.” Surely, Austin Hill’s reputation isn’t the best among the fans. While plenty of banter was thrown at Hill, Shane van Gisbergen received massive respect for his banter. One fan said, “SVG hasn’t even been in NASCAR for a year yet and he’s already put himself in legend status. Kiwis are just f**king built different.”

Another fan wished for an imaginary scenario. He said, “The man is a absolute savage and legend. He needs to be in cup immediately. And as much as I hate to say it, give Hill a cup ride too so we can see more of a sh*t storm between these two every so often hahaha.”

It could indeed get explosive if Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill carry this rivalry to this Cup Series. However, for now, it will be interesting to see what Hill plans to do next, given what happened at Sonoma. Can he do something to win over the fans and turn around his villain image? Well, only time can tell.