Dale Earnhardt Jr. sitting in Sammy Smith’s pit box in support after ‘rough week’ post-Martinsville

Martinsville was a major moment for Sammy Smith and not in a good way. His team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has his back, though. The JR Motorsports owner is spending time at Smith’s pit box to show his support for his NASCAR driver.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has five cars on the track today. Sammy Smith is the one with the bossman on top of his pit box, though. There is no doubt that Smith has had quite a week since his last-lap desperation move at Martinsville.

Jeff Gluck of The Athletic noted that he saw Earnhardt make his way to the No. 8 team’s pit box. Dale Jr. said he would do this on his podcast and now he’s following through on that.

“Dale Jr. is on site at Darlington today,” Gluck posted on X/Twitter. “As he said at the end of his podcast this week, he drove down so he can sit on Sammy Smith’s pit box as a show of support after Smith’s rough week post-Martinsville.”

Dale Jr. is on site at Darlington today. As he said at the end of his podcast this week, he drove down so he can sit on Sammy Smith’s pit box as a show of support after Smith’s rough week post-Martinsville.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) April 5, 2025

Today, Sammy Smith had a change of attitude about the Martinsville fallout. 20 years old, there is still a little maturing that Smith has to go through. Still, better late than never.

Smith has spoken to Taylor Gray, has apologized to the 54 team, and is ready to move on. He admitted that what he did was wrong and that it was indeed a mistake. Now, he has to back it up with his driving on the track.

There were multiple drivers who came out and commented on the incident. It was not a popular move in the garage. Xfinity or Cup.

“[The Xfinity Series race] was absolutely infuriating. My blood was boiling inside the motorhome watching it,” Bell told journalist Claire B. Lang. “It was a disgrace for our sport. That should not be tolerated. Not just the last lap, but the whole thing. We’ve got to hold ourselves to better standards than that. That was embarrassing.

“… Something has to be done. I think I said on the podium at COTA and said hopefully this is a step in the right direction, and the Cup races have been good. They’ve been really good and fair and clean. But yeah, [the finish at Martinsville] was absolutely embarrassing. Something needs to be done. I don’t know where it starts probably in NASCAR. Yeah, that was bad.”

Sammy Smith was the talk of the NASCAR world this week. From Denny Hamlin to Kevin Harvick and even his own boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Everyone had something to say. Hopefully, Smith grows from the incident. However, if he or anyone else does that again, NASCAR has big plans to punish them.