Saturday’s chaotic NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville became the subject of heated discussion. What exactly defines hard racing and was Smith in wrong for putting his bumper to use on Taylor Gray on the last lap shootout?
The incident occurred when Smith deliberately rammed his No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet into Gray’s No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the final corners, causing Gray to spin. This allowed Austin Hill to claim victory, collecting his second win of the season and a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash payday. After the Martinsville race, Gray confronted Smith outside the infield care center. Before the drivers could settle the score between them, they were kept at a distance from each other by the NASCAR security and officials
Fox analyst Clint Bowyer didn’t hold back his thoughts on the intervention, stating plainly: “That needs to be a penalty. If it’s that blatant and that outlandish, that is a simple answer to me.” He further continued, “If respect is gonna fix it, they need to Get Those Security Guards Out of The Way.” Bowyer suggested that the only way the drivers will learn about respect is if they get checked or held accountable for their actions.
Sammy Smith didn’t have an ounce of regret about what he did to Gray on the last lap. “It’s just, he just has no respect for me, and he was flipping me off under the red flag, swerving at my door. I moved him into (turn) one, then he still had the lead those two restarts, and going on the back straightaway, I thought to myself, what would he do in this situation, and he would have done the exact same thing.” This lack of respect between the drivers in the lower series even fumed veteran announcer Mike Joy, who joined Bowyer in sharing his strong views on the Xfinity race at the paper clip track.
The @FOXNASCAR booth sounds off on the end of the Xfinity Series race last night. Pretty strong takes from all three.
Mike Joy: “I said the Xfinity Series was a dumpster fire, it’s not. A dumpster fire is contained, and that series is not right now.”
Kevin Harvick: “It’s not… pic.twitter.com/yD6IyWL05T
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 30, 2025
The Fox broadcast team delivered a strong criticism of the Martinsville race’s controversial finish. Mike Joy declared, “I said the Xfinity Series was a dumpster fire, it’s not. A dumpster fire is contained, and that series is not right now.” Kevin Harvick added, “It’s not what we all wanna watch and not the racing that we were brought up in.”
Veteran drivers across the field expressed similar frustrations. Jeremy Clements, a driver/owner with over 500 Xfinity Series starts, called it “a disgrace to this great series.” Justin Allgaier labeled the driving “unacceptable,” noting, “Twenty years ago, we didn’t race like this.” Jeb Burton questioned NASCAR’s enforcement, asking, “When I grew up late model racing they would call for rough driving… when is the last time have we used that?”
The post “Get Those Security Guards Out of the Way”- Livid Veteran Lashes Out at Xfinity Stars Amidst NASCAR’s Martinsville Shame appeared first on EssentiallySports.