Austin Hill pulls out unlikely OT win after Sammy Smith wrecks Taylor Gray out of lead at Martinsville

Back in 2023, Austin Hill lost at Martinsville in heartbreaking fashion. This time, karma has swung the other way for the 21 team.

As Sammy Smith gave a hard push to Taylor Gray for the lead in Turn 3, he was turned and Hill snuck through for his second win of the NASCAR season.

Drivers were desperate. They were sloppy. Caution flags were flying around and Cup Series drivers were calling out the poor racing that was going on. Just a chaotic night in Martinsville, and not in a good way, really.

Gray and Smith were too busy trying to get back at one another to finish this race. Austin Hill was the benefactor of all the messiness on the overtime restart.

Watch the WILD overtime at Martinsville won by @_AustinHill 😱 pic.twitter.com/tKzxmGiJis

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) March 29, 2025

Austin Hill was about fifth on the final restart. He ended up winning the race with all of the nonsense going on at the front. Sammy Smith made a terrible move at the end there that was selfish. It ended up biting him in the end.

Not only does Hill walk away with the win and the grandfather clock, but he earned more. Hill won the Dash 4 Cash, so add $100,000 on top of his winnings tonight. This was also the 100th Xfinity Series win in the history of Richard Childress Racing.

While I wish I could talk more about Hill, that isn’t the story of tonight. Unfortunately, the story is about how horrible the racing was throughout the field. But particularly from drivers in the series who should know better.

Austin Hill wins after picking up Sammy Smith’s mess

Let’s remember that Sammy Smith is 20 years old. He has maturing to do. But at this point, he has raced enough in late models and in NASCAR to know better. I guarantee he wouldn’t try to pull that move on Bubba Pollard in a Super Late Model. Why would he in the Xfinity Series?

To be honest, it might be frustration from Smith. He has not been as good this season in the early going as he was last year. With a chance to win in front of him, it looks like he got over his own head and, well, we all saw what happened.

How funny it is to see Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed finish 1-2 in this race. Remember that Martinsville race in 2023 where the two former teammates got into each other racing for the win? This was similar, but the two ended up on top of the results this time around. And Creed is with Haas Factory Team now, of course.

A wild night in Martinsville, and not in a good way. What did we all just watch?