Chandler Smith and Cole Custer have spent all season competing against each other on the racetrack in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. But, as soon as the Playoffs rolled around, things got pretty chippy.
As the pairing battled for the victory at Kansas Speedway in September, Custer and Smith had a slight run-in, as the driver of the No. 81 crowded the defending Xfinity Series champion towards the wall.
Neither driver ended up parking it in Victory Lane at Kansas — that honor belonged to Aric Almirola, just like it did Saturday at Martinsville.
Smith and Custer spent the duration of the National Debt Relief 250 competing around each other, as both needed fantastic runs on the afternoon to ensure their position in the Championship 4.
Things boiled over inside the final 50 laps. After some minor contact, the defending Xfinity champion lined up directly behind Smith and on the restart, shipped the No. 81 into the corner, sending them both up the racetrack, losing both drivers several positions.
A stack-up on the restart shakes things up at the front of the field! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/MiWEV0XTyf
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 2, 2024
After the race, Smith and Custer had a pow-wow alongside the No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which started as a heated discussion between the two drivers and developed into a physical altercation.
Things get HEATED between @ColeCuster and @CSmith_Racing post-race! ?
Settle this on @WWENXT ?? pic.twitter.com/FQ2Pc2I1tE
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) November 2, 2024
Did the punch from Smith to Custer land, though? Unconfirmed. “I can’t even tell if he punched me in the face, it was so soft,” Custer said in a post-race interview with NBC Sports.
“I guess he’s mad, but what goes around comes around,” Custer said. “At the end of the day, he put us in the fence a few times this year. He used the bumper on me, so I used my bumper on him. It is what it is. You know, you’re going to race for a championship, you’re put in these situations, and I don’t mind doing it to him because he’s done it to me.”
Custer was successful in locking into the Championship 4, finishing fourth on the evening, but with Almirola winning in the No. 20, the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 will not fight for the Owner’s Championship.
“He thought he was in a must-win for the owners, which he was, but at the end of the day, I get that his dad has some high-up role at [Stewart-Haas Racing], so he probably values that a lot, but at the end of the day, I’m a driver,” said Smith. “I’m in a must-win situation. He was not at that moment, and he didn’t even try to make the corner. Granted, I moved him the lap before, but I’m beating his bumper off for the five laps before that. I gave him grace before I finally shipped him, and then he didn’t even try to give me a chance going into Turn 1. I think it was kind of a chickenshit move. It is what it is.”
By failing to win Saturday’s National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville Speedway, Chandler Smith also failed to advance to the Championship 4 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
