Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill finished the round of 12 of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs 21 points below the round of 8 cut line. Had he not cost himself 27 playoff points to start the round by being suspended during the regular season, he would have advanced.
Hill hooked Aric Almirola in the right rear at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late July, prompting NASCAR to suspend him for the following weekend's race at Iowa Speedway.
Beginning this season, NASCAR announced that, while playoff waivers remained in play should a driver miss a race, they could decide to strip a driver of all playoff points earned during the regular season if NASCAR were to deem their absence unacceptable.
In the situation of Denny Hamlin, who missed the Cup Series race in Mexico due to the birth of his third child, that was understandably deemed acceptable, and he was granted a playoff waiver with no playoff point deduction.
But Hill's suspension obviously didn't fit that bill.
So the 15 playoff points he scored with three race wins, the six he scored with six stage wins, and the six he scored with his fifth place finish in the regular season standings didn't actually count, and he started the playoffs with 2,000 points rather than 2,027.
JR Motorsports' Sammy Smith ended up advancing from the round of 12 to the round of 8 as a result; Hill would have been ahead of him in points otherwise, thus leaving Smith below the cut line.
But after the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it appears that somebody else could be the true beneficiary of Hill's antics.
Following his 10th place finish at Las Vegas, Hill would be third place in the point standings had he advanced to the round of 8, and he'd be 14 points above the cut line. He'd trail only JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier, and teammate Jesse Love would be the only other driver above the cutoff.
Instead, it's Haas Factory Team's Sam Mayer who finds himself in the fourth and final spot above the cut line, eight points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing's Brandon Jones. Haas Factory Team's Sheldon Creed is 21 points behind, JR Motorsports' Carson Kvapil is 22 points behind, and Smith is 24 points behind.
If, at the end of the round of 8, the statistics show that Hill would have advanced to the Championship 4 if not for his suspension, that move will have ultimately saved another driver's season. Right now, that driver is in position to be Mayer.
The United Rentals 250 is set to continue the round of 8 this Saturday, October 18 at Talladega Superspeedway. Live coverage is set to be provided by the CW Network starting at 4:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!