The line has been crossed, in fact, it’s been blown by.
Sammy Smith showed no remorse following his final lap lunge on Taylor Gray in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Martinsville Speedway – a move that the JR Motorsports driver had hoped would secure him the victory, but instead, knocked him back to the final position inside the top-10.
The Johnston, Iowa-native was in line to finish in the runner-up spot on Saturday, after spending the final stage of Saturday’s event dueling with Gray, a battle which, at one point, it had looked like the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet would be successful in.
On the second-to-last restart, Smith drove into the corner directly on the rear bumper of Gray and shoved the Joe Gibbs Racing driver up the racetrack to take over the lead. Another caution would re-rack the field and make it simple for Gray to repay the favor, which he did – although less egregiously – in NASCAR Overtime.
As the field came back around on the final lap, Smith could barely get clear of his JR Motorsports teammate, Justin Allgaier, and make a lunge into the third corner, trying to get to the rear bumper of the No. 54.
The result was Gray being spun around on the outside of the racetrack, and Smith stumbling, attempting to regain his footing off the corner, allowing Austin Hill to take the victory as a huge wreck emerged behind.
When asked about his move, Smith didn’t deny anything.
“Absolutely, it was egregious. Yeah, I’m not proud of that, but roles reversed, he would have done the same thing. I mean, he’s got no respect for me,” said Smith. “I didn’t move him those prior restarts, and he was flipping me off under the red flag, swerving at me and it’s definitely uncalled for and I’m not proud of it, but he would have done the exact same thing, and that’s what I told him.”
Smith has been off to a great start this season, entering this weekend at Martinsville just outside the top-five in NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings. Settling for second wouldn’t have been the worst move, and would have left him with good momentum heading to Darlington.
“It’s unfortunate, if you’re not the one doing it someone is going to do it to you, and everyone’s going to dog on me and I’m no proud of it, but at the end of the day it’s what you got to do, so we’ll move on to Darlington.”
“Maybe he’ll find more respect, and I’m sure we’ll go at it a couple more times, but I’m not afraid to. I mean from his end, I mean I’m sure [it’s not over], and then I’m not going to let him have the last bite, so we’ll see.”
Despite everything that went on during the final laps of the race, and Gray being denied his first career win in NASCAR’s National Series for the second year in a row at Martinsville, the 20-year-old driver remained rather calm in the face of adversity.
“It sucks, right?” Gray said. “Just unfortunate – it’s the same story I’ve lived here for the past two Martinsville races in a row. It sucks, but it is what it is. Long year.”
While Smith still ended up with a top-10 result, Gray’s spin relegated the Operation 300-sponsored machine to a disappointing 29th when the checkered flag was displayed.
Both Smith and Gray will trudge forward to Darlington Raceway, with the memory of Martinsville in the back of their mind, should they meet again on the racetrack.
