JR Motorsports decides on appeal of Sammy Smith Martinsville penalty

JR Motorsports will not appeal the penalty to Sammy Smith after the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville. Smith was docked 50 points for taking out Taylor Gray at the end of the race. He was also fined $25,000, and the loss of points drops him from sixth to 13th in the Xfinity Series standings.

During the Martinsville race, Sammy Smith initiated contact with race leader Taylor Gray during the final lap. The bump sent Gray’s car spinning, and that led to Austin Hill winning the race.

“We want to see really hard racing and door-to-door racing, and contact is certainly a part of the sport and part of the sport at Martinsville Speedway,” Eric Peterson, Xfinity Series Managing Director, said, per NASCAR.com. “We felt like after looking at all the facts, all the video, the team audio, SMT data and all the tools, we have to work with and review an incident like that. Unfortunately, what Sammy did was over the line and something that we feel like we had to react to. We would prefer to leave it in the driver’s hands but in this case, it wasn’t really a racing move and we reacted to it as such.”

Sammy Smith reacts to hitting Taylor Gray at Martinsville

After the race, Smith and Gray exchanged words at the Martinsville infield care center. Smith earned a P10 finish, and Gray finished 29th. NASCAR also fined Gray and driver Jeb Burton $5,000 for behavioral penalties.

“Taylor and Jeb were in the care center post-race and there was some behavior that we felt stepped over the line as far as interrupting a medical situation,” Mike Forde, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, said. “The care center is almost an on-site hospital, so the drivers and any competitor that enters that area, there should be a sense of decorum there.”

Smith talked about the contract with Gray after the race. He said, “I mean, it’s unfortunate. You know, I’m not very proud of that, what I did. It’s just, he just has no respect for me, and he was flipping me off under the red flag, swerving at my door. I moved him into (turn) one, then he still had the lead those two restarts, and going on the back straightaway, I thought to myself, what would he do in this situation, and he would have done the exact same thing.”