NEWTON, Iowa. – A two-race tussle between Austin Hill and Johnny Sauter transpired into full fledged war during Sunday’s rain-delayed M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Stores at Iowa Speedway.
17 laps into Stage 3, Hill and Sauter were battling for a position inside the top-10 when Hill tagged the rear of Sauter’s No. 13 truck on Lap 137, causing him to spin and sent into the outside wall.
Sauter re-fired his ThorSport Racing Ford F-150, hunted down Hill and slammed into Hill’s No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises in the rear and pushed him into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 139.
Sauter was immediately parked by NASCAR.
After repairs, Hill was able to return to the race and finished 12th with a damaged race truck.
“It’s hard to race with that guy,” Hill said after the race. “We were racing hard getting into Turn 1. He got into me a little bit and I kind of returned the favor.
“I don’t race like that. If you are going to race me like that and try and take me out – I guess he was mad from Texas last week, I don’t know. I’m not going to put up with it.”
Hill says he tries to earn the respect of his competitors on-track and says he won’t worry about Sauter moving forward as he’s concentrated on winning the Truck Series championship with Hattori.
“I try and race everybody clean but when they race you like that I can’t put up with it,” added Hill. We had a good truck, definitely could have finished top-10, I don’t think we had anything for the top five, they were pretty gone.
“I have bigger things to worry about than the 13 truck. I’m more focused on the championship. We’re just going to keep working and see what happens.””
When asked if he will address the situation with Sauter, Hill replied, “If he wants to come talk to me about it he can, but it won’t be nice words.”
Sauter declined to comment after the incident and still refused to speak with reporters after meeting with NASCAR officials’ post-race.
Last Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, Sauter and Hill collided during the race on Lap 57 which took both drivers out of the hunt for the victory. Hill finished eighth, while Sauter settled for 12th.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
