NASCAR slammed as Cup Series champion calls for severe penalties

NASCAR handed down a one-race suspension to Austin Hill for a high-profile indiscretion at Indianapolis on Saturday, but Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick believes they did not go far enough during the race.

It appeared to be a slam dunk that Hill would be banned from the moment he rear-hooked Aric Almirola into the wall with just nine laps remaining in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, despite his expletive-laced protests on team radio.

On Tuesday, the hammer came down with Hill stood down for this weekend’s action in Iowa. He will be replaced in the No. 21 car by Austin Dillon.

The incident has been a big talking point, not surprisingly, with current NASCAR great Kyle Larson describing it on team radio as “extremely intentional”.

Another major NASCAR name who has waded into the debate is 2014 Cup Series champion Harvick. He not only felt Hill’s actions were blatant, he thinks NASCAR ‘dropped the ball’ by not dealing more severely with him.

Kevin Harvick calls for more severe punishments

Harvick believes Hill should have been removed from the race immediately, rather than just being held on pit road for five laps.

Speaking on his Happy Hour podcast, he compared it to a similar moment caused by Austin Cindric at COTA in March, and said NASCAR got it wrong both times.

“When I look back at all this right rear hooking, we’ve seen what happened to Bubba Wallace when he hooked, Chase Elliott when he hooked in the right rear, NASCAR 100 percent dropped the ball on Austin Cindric at COTA.

“Where they’re going wrong - and I’ve said this before - when Austin Cindric hooked Ty Dillon at COTA and they did the exact same thing wrong at Indy, you should just park ‘em. Put ‘em in the garage, just park ‘em, day’s over. That’s the penalty.”

Harvick also used a safety argument to back up his claim for stiffer punishment when incidents like this take place.

“You can’t have it. There’s too many ways, and you heard Almirola talk about it afterwards, ‘that’s as hard as I’ve ever been hit, it felt just like I did when I broke my back’. And that’s the things that you don’t want.”

READ MORE: NASCAR icon will not congratulate Bubba Wallace for Indy win

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