NASCAR star protests his innocence at Watkins Glen after HUGE penalty

NASCAR driver Austin Hill has protested his innocence ahead of returning to Xfinity Series action at Watkins Glen International.

Hill missed last weekend's race at Iowa Speedway having been hit with a one-race suspension by NASCAR after they deemed him to have intentionally wrecked Aric Almirola at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the week prior.

Hill had initially been held for five laps during the race at Indianapolis but in the aftermath of the event, NASCAR reviewed the footage further, with a one-race suspension subsequently issued.

Despite NASCAR's decision, the 31-year-old claims he was innocent.

“I know that when I go to my grave way down the road that it wasn’t done on purpose,” Hill said on Friday, via NASCAR.com. “So, I can at least take that with me.”

READ MORE: NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying Today: Watkins Glen start time, TV channel and live stream

Almirola wreck a 'racing incident'

Elaborating further, Hill continued: “From my standpoint, it was a full racing incident, full racing deal,”

“I pleaded my case to NASCAR and everyone. I told [Peterson] everything that went down, showed him the SMT data, showed him that [Creed] and I were together before making contact with [Almirola].

“From my standpoint, it was fully unintentional. It wasn’t one of those lose your mind moments and turn to the left. I feel like I’m a smarter racer than that.

"If I was mad about him getting into the back of me, I would have waited until Turn 1 and shipped him like he shipped me in Turn 3. That would have been it. I would have moved him out of the groove and went on.”

Aric Almirola himself certainly disagreed with Hill on his assessment of what went down, with the experienced NASCAR driver telling The CW that it was deliberate when speaking after the race at Indianapolis.

“It was definitely intentional,” Almirola told The CW. “He (Hill) blocked me three times.

"I finally got him loose in turn three. He had damage on the nose, so he was really slow in the corners. It was time to go. I mean we’re coming to nine to go and the leaders are starting to put a gap on us, so it’s time to go.

“I got him loose and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear.”

READ MORE: Kyle Busch forced to retire from race as car catches flames at Watkins Glen

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