NASCAR alters point standings mid-week, new points leader

Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill initially retained his spot atop the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings after Saturday afternoon's BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was an eventful race for the driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet, to say the very least.

Hill finished the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval in 25th place after a late incident with Stewart-Haas Racing's Cole Custer. As a result, he left with a four-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Chandler Smith in the point standings.

Hill, who appeared to cause the incident with the No. 00 Ford himself, proceeded to intentionally spin Custer into the inside retaining wall on the back straightaway.

Austin Hill penalized, loses points lead

As a result of his retaliatory act, NASCAR officials fined Hill $25,000 and docked him 25 points in the Xfinity Series standings. He was penalized under Section 4.4B in the NASCAR Rule Book, which deals with NASCAR’s Member Code of Conduct.

Penalty guidelines include "wrecking or spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from Competition as a result" and "any actions deemed to compromise the safety of an Event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of Competitors, Officials, spectators, or others". Hill was in clear violation of both.

Now Smith is the points leader, with Hill having fallen to third place, 21 points behind. Custer moved up to second and sits 17 points behind Smith.

Smith scored 25 points in Saturday's race: three for his eighth place finish in the first stage, three for his eighth place finish in the second stage, and 19 for his 18th place finish in the race. Custer scored just six: one for his 10th place finish in the first stage and five for his 32nd place finish in the race.

Hill was officially credited with (-1) point after initially scoring 24: four for his seventh place finish in the first stage, eight for his third place finish in the second stage, and 12 for his 25th place finish in the race.

Because the 25-point penalty was only applied to Hill himself and not the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing team, the No. 21 team still leads the owner standings.

Hill's team owns a four-point lead over Smith's No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing team, with Custer's No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing team a further four points behind in third place.

Portland International Raceway is scheduled to host the 13th race on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule this Saturday, June 1. The Pacific Office Automation 147 is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning a 4:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!