Sammy Smith admits mistake in Xfinity Series race at Martinsville

Sammy Smith has received a ton of backlash for wrecking Taylor Gray and sending last Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway into complete chaos. At first, the 20-year-old defended his actions, but now he’s walking them back a bit.

For his actions in Virginia, Smith was fined $25,000 and docked 50 points. Now, he’s apologizing ahead of this weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway: “Ultimately, I made a mistake, and hopefully I can be forgiven and move past it,” Smith stated, via The Athletic.

At least Smith is being a bit contrite regarding his actions. He’s certainly feeling some hurt in his wallet and in the point standings though. The driver who got aggressive going into Turn 3 dropped from sixth in the points standings to 13th.

Regardless, the comments from his peers have stung more than the money or points ever will. Cup Series wheelman Christopher Bell opened up on the sequence last weekend, and he was blunt.

“[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.”

While Smith might’ve been going for the win, he cleared out Gray from behind going into Turn 3, causing him to spin. Additionally, it ended up ruining Smith’s chance to win, as well. He got caught up in the wash.

In the end, Austin Hill went from being happy with a top-five to winning the race in the final turn. Still, he wasn’t proud of how it all went down, and he’s hoping for the performance to be different at Martinsville the next time the Xfinity Series comes to town.

“I stand strongly on the side of for whatever reason when the Xfinity Series goes to Martinsville, we just lose our minds,” Hill said, via Sports Illustrated. “But everywhere else, we are the best racing in NASCAR. And I strongly stand behind that we are the best series in NASCAR. Just when you go to Martinsville, we look like we don’t know what we’re doing. 

“We’re going to get through it. We have, whatever it is, seven [or] eight months before we go back to Martinsville, I’m hoping a lot of things change between now and then.”