There are two sides to every story, and then there’s whatever Saturday’s Xfinity race at Martinsville was—because calling it a stock car race would be like calling a bar fight a disagreement over the check.
Fifteen cautions. A field reduced to scrap metal. And a finish that had all the grace of a drunk bull in a china shop. But forget all that—what really had people talking was the final lap.
Taylor Gray, a Truck Series regular and Xfinity interloper, had led 87 laps and was staring down his first NASCAR win. But this is Martinsville, where happy endings are about as common as clean bumpers. Enter the inevitable late-race caution, bunching up the field for what we all knew would be a restart filled with chaos and questionable decisions.
Sammy Smith, an Xfinity winner twice over, muscled his way to the front with six to go. But just as the white flag waved, Matt DiBenedetto decided to audition for “Dancing with the Cars” and spun setting up an overtime scenario.
Then, as expected, it got stupid.
Gray, desperate. Smith, also desperate. Heading into Turn 3, Gray had the lead—until Smith went full NFL kicker and punted him into the wall. Problem was, Smith also followed him in, which meant Austin Hill—who was minding his own business—suddenly found himself in victory lane, as surprised as anyone. Behind him? A demolition site that had salvage yard owners grinning.
Gray, to his credit, kept his cool.
“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.”
Smith, meanwhile, was just contrite enough to say the right thing but not enough to actually mean it.
“I’m not proud of that, but if the roles were reversed, he would have done the same thing,” Smith said. “He’s got no respect for me… He was flipping me off on the red flag, swore at me. It was definitely uncalled for. I’m not proud of it, but he would have done the exact same thing. That’s what I told him.”
Cue social media outrage, where fans demanded everything from Smith’s disqualification to exiling half the field to Siberia. Some even bemoaned the “lack of professionalism,” as if the Xfinity Series isn’t literally the place where young drivers learn to be professionals—by wrecking each other on short tracks like this one.
And what did NASCAR do? Nothing. At least not yet. Maybe they’ll wake up and hand out penalties, or maybe they’ll give everyone a stern Mike Brady lecture about sportsmanship. Or maybe—just maybe—they’ll do absolutely nothing.
Because at the end of the day, NASCAR isn’t just a sport. It’s entertainment. And let’s be honest—weren’t you entertained?
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.