Sammy Smith reveals Taylor Gray 'flipped him off,' admits last lap Martinsville wreck was egregious

A wild final overtime at Martinsville ends with Sammy Smith defending himself to the media and solidifying his rivalry with Taylor Gray. The two made the end of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race memorable, to say the least.

Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray are two talented young drivers. Tonight did not show the best example of that for either of them. But, if we are honest, Smith is the driver in the wrong here.

Smith gently moved Gray on the final restart of regulation. Gray then returned the favor in overtime. However, for whatever reason, Smith decided to do an Austin Dillon at Richmond type full-send in Turn 3. It wrecked Gray, Smith, and most of the field to end the race.

Still, afterward, the JR Motorsports driver didn’t have any regrets. Despite admitting it was an egregious move, he seemed to be fine with his decision.

“I mean, absolutely, it was egregious. I mean, yeah, I’m not proud of that, but I mean, if roles were reversed, he would have done the same thing,” Smith said on The CW postrace coverage. “He’s got no respect for me. I didn’t move him those first prior restarts and you know, he was flipping me off under the red flag, swerving at me, you know, it’s definitely uncalled for and I’m not proud of it, but he would have done the exact same thing, and that’s what I told him. You know, we’ll see what happens after that.”

Even though he knows people will criticize him, Sammy Smith isn’t backing down. He is going to take this in full stride it seems.

“I mean, it’s unfortunate, you know, he’s – if you’re not the one doing it, someone’s going to do it to you,” he continued. “Everyone’s gonna dog on me and I’m not proud of that but at the end of the day, it’s what you got to do. So, we’ll move on to Darlington.”

So, what made Smith so upset with Gray in the first place? To start, they apparently have a history between them. Antics under the red flag didn’t help either.

“I mean, yeah, I would say we have a little bit of a past and I know he has no respect for me. Then, with flipping me off under the red flag, that right there, that was the line for me,” Smith explained “You know, maybe he’ll find some more respect, and I’m sure we’ll go at it a couple more times but I’m not afraid to.”

Does this mean the end of this feud? Oh, no. Don’t expect that to happen any time soon.

“From his end, I’m sure no,t and I’m not going to let him have the last bite,” Smith concluded. “So, we’ll see.”