By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
SAN DIEGO – A daring three-wide pass for the lead by Austin Hill went awry on Lap 32 of Sunday’s Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado.
The move and sudden hesitance resulted in both Red Bull cars of Shane Van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch crashing into the Turn 1 barrier, bringing out the only red flag of the afternoon.
On the restart, Hill made the move to get by Zilisch for the top spot with Van Gisbergen on the inside. The latter dialed it back, leaving the race lead battle between Hill and Zilisch until all hell broke loose.
Running out of real estate, Hill incidentally pinched the right side of Zilisch which sent him into the barriers, clipping Hill and collecting Van Gisbergen in the process.
Van Gisbergen, who was the odds-on favorite after winning pole position, ran into the driver’s side of Riley Herbst to no harm. However, the same couldn’t be said for drivers such as Ty Gibbs, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez, who all sustained damage in the melee.
Although those three that were collected after the initial carnage continued, the three protagonists of this drama weren’t as fortunate as Hill, Van Gisbergen and Zilisch occupied positions 36-38 in the final results.
An additional look at the incident on Lap 32. pic.twitter.com/NHm00Ekdx0
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 21, 2026
The impact of the crash moved the barriers that were deemed unsafe to continue and thus, the race was halted for over nine minutes. A much shorter period compared to Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race that involved Sam Mayer.
Hill, who won Saturday’s race, took accountability for the crash that ended three strong cars and sent out his apologies to the Trackhouse Racing duo. The issue of it all was his No. 33 Richard Childress Chevrolet slid up at a corner where real estate runs out in a heartbeat.
“I was sliding the rears and I slid the fronts a little bit,” said Hill. “On corner exit, I was fully locked to the right just trying to stay off the No. 88. It’s one of those racing deals. If I had that extra car width and the No. 88 wasn’t there, I would have cleared fine but knowing that he was out there, I carried a little too much entry pace compared to what I had been doing all day.
“Right when I touched him and he got in the wall, it sucked me into him and I couldn’t stay off of him. I hate it for Connor and the No. 88 team, and I apologize to those guys.
“We could have had a really strong day for everybody at RCR and ECR. We’ll go again next week in Sonoma. It was a lot of fun running up front and showing speed though. I’m starting to figure out these Cup cars a little bit more, especially on the road courses, so that’s a good sign.”
For Zilisch, it was once again another agonizing ending to a demoralizing rookie campaign. Especially, when his No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet was fast in the period he was on the track where he led his first laps of the season.
“We got out front and it felt really good, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” said Zilisch. “I had a lot of fun leading my first career Cup Series laps. Just super proud of this entire No. 88 team, but I hate to see the day end this short.
“When you have a chance to go win a race and you’re in a prime spot to do so, but get put in a position like that, it’s extremely tough. It’s been a big weekend for all of us at Trackhouse Racing and Red Bull, and I just hate that both cars get taken out like that. We’ll put our heads down, put this weekend behind us and move onto the next (at Sonoma Raceway).”
Van Gisbergen, who has won seven times on road and street courses, wasn’t thrilled of being taken out early in the running. Frustrations aplenty, he had little to say about the ordeal that wiped him out at a chance of his second win of the season.
“A real shame,” said Van Gisbergen. “Red Bull Chevy unreal and fast once the track kind of rubbered up. Just a real shame.”
The accident marked the 11th stoppage of the Cup Series season with the last one taking place at Michigan where it too was halted for wall damage after a multi-car accident.
Be the first to comment