Austin Hill and Cole Custer are at odds after the NASCAR Xfinity incident in Charlotte

After the race, which was won by Chase Elliott in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports car, both drivers expressed different views on the incident.

“After our pit stop, everyone had old or worn tires and I was in a spin trying to get away from him,” said Hill. “His right rear wheel may have touched the wall a little bit, but then he pinched us so much on the back straight that my right front wheel gave out as I was getting into 1st position.”

“I was really low because I wanted to go in with him without realising I had a puncture and he went off to the right. I got a little carried on the back straight and couldn’t let him go. I apologise for that but I don’t apologise for running into him from fourth place. I don’t know what he’s mad about. It’s not like he hit the wall really hard or messed up his car in any way. I guess he should go back and look at it.

“It was inappropriate for him to attack us so harshly and then we both left.”

Hill said he never “had a problem with Cole” and didn’t know if there was one on his side. He called it odd and said maybe they needed to talk about it.

The defending champion had a different interpretation.

“He pushed me into the field on the 4 and we collided on the backstretch because I tried to hold on to him and he decided to go up and pass me sideways and we collided again,” Custer said. “I don’t know if he cut a tire in 1 or what happened, but then he tried to kill me on the backstretch because he slammed the gas pedal until he wrecked our car, knocked the brakes off and I slammed my head into the back headrest and I don’t know.

“I know the race was tough, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to get intentionally wrecked and destroy the clips on our race cars. That’s ridiculous. He wants to drive like a pissed off teenager and that’s ridiculous. So… I think I’ve said enough.”

Matt Weaver is a motorsports insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Þjórsárden.