Frustration Is The Buzz Word Over Lack Of Xfinity Etiquette

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Many in the NASCAR garage are fed up with a decline in racing etiquette, especially on the short tracks, and it’s easy to see why.

This past weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Sammy Smith dumped Taylor Gray from the lead in turn three on the last lap. The resulting carnage and mad dash to the finish line ended in a massive, multi-car crash on the frontstretch.

Smith was around four car lengths behind Gray when he made the ‘Hail Mary’ dive that resulted in Gray spinning into the outside wall. Not only was the finish to the race decided in such a manner, but much of the latter half of the event was marred with incidents of drivers just running each other over.

Afterward, many drivers spoke out regarding the incidents, including defending Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, a veteran of the series who has raced for more than a decade.

“This is where the racing is at; this is unacceptable,” Allgaier said. “You go back, however many years ago, and these problems didn’t happen. Twenty years ago, we didn’t race like this. NASCAR is in a box. They don’t want to make balls and strikes calls. (The playoffs now are) win and you’re in, [so] I understand why he did it, but I don’t like it.

“I think of the Mark Martins, the Cale Yarboroughs, and even the Dale [Earnhardt] Seniors, it was one-car incidents; it wasn’t what we’re seeing now. Those guys were so great at diplomacy and respect,” continued Allgaier. “While you raced hard, you knew what you were getting into. You had a guy, or a couple of guys, who were the aggressors … but now everybody is.”

Others in the field took to social media after the race to share their frustrations as well.

Longtime owner-driver Jeremy Clements wrote on Twitter: “Really disappointed in the lack of respect on the track tonight. It’s a disgrace to this great series. Not many out there raced without just running into the guy in front of them. Not sure what we do to clean it up, but something must be done.”

“When I grew up late model racing, they would call for rough driving and use a flag called the black flag. When is the last time we used that?” posted Jordan Anderson Racing driver Jeb Burton. “You race like a moron, you get sent to the rear. The damn local track today does it, but we can’t?”

Anthony Alfredo, another racer who advanced into the Xfinity Series out of late models and grassroots levels noted:

Harrison Burton simply tweeted an angry face emoji, after he was collected in multiple incidents Saturday and ended up with a 24th-place finish.

The ire extended beyond those on the racetrack as well. Many commentators, media members, and others in the NASCAR realm, both former and current, expressed their thoughts.

Driver-turned-analyst Parker Kligerman called the action on The CW Saturday and made comments on air, as well as on social media following the conclusion of the telecast.

“Not the best display by the Xfinity Series tonight,” said Kligerman. “For most of the stuff through the field, I feel I’ve almost become desensitized to it (because) it’s just become so common. But as I said, that move at the end was unacceptable. Especially since they were even on shots at each other.”

Added The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck:

NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin both offered their thoughts as well.

“This racetrack is historic in the grand scheme of all things NASCAR and deserves better,” Earnhardt wrote on X (formerly Twitter), while Martin simply asked, “Are you entertained?”

Denny Hamlin – who went on to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race in dominant and clean fashion – called the Xfinity Series finish, “Absolute garbage,” in the minutes after the checkered flag.

Even Saturday’s race winner, Austin Hill, had plenty of feelings of his own about what transpired.

“To win at this racetrack and to do it the way we did, I don’t like winning that way,” said Hill, who admitted he moved Allgaier in the final corner as the chaos unfolded. “I know that everybody thinks I’m a super aggressive driver and that I don’t care about anybody else – and they’re probably right about some of that – but at the end of the day, I don’t want to be that guy who just barrels through everybody else to win a race.

“When I saw everyone else doing it, though, it’s kind of fair game at that point, you know? You’re leaning on this guy, you’re pushing that guy, you’re mad at this guy or knocking him out of the way and making him mad … so when all these [other] guys are running into each other, if I do the same thing, you can’t be mad at me for doing it too.

“At the end of the day, when it’s a green-white-checkered (finish) at Martinsville, respect gets thrown out the window, and I hate to say that because I really wish it could be different. I’m probably not the best one to speak on it, but I wish there was a way that we could settle it down a little more to where it wasn’t just beating and banging and knocking each other’s doors off and running through people.

“I wish that we could race a different way at Martinsville than what we do.”

During the FS1 broadcast of the Cup Series race on Sunday, longtime play-by-play voice Mike Joy said “I said the Xfinity Series was a dumpster fire; it's not. A dumpster fire is contained, and that series is not right now.”

Fellow Cup Series analysts Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer also sounded off.

“It’s not what we all want to watch and not the racing that we were brought up in. It would’ve been better to just make the call on the spot than (to) wait,” Harvick said.

At that, Bowyer responded, “That needs to be a penalty. If it’s that blatant and that outlandish, that is a simple answer to me.”

The chaos wasn’t limited to the Xfinity Series, either, as the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night saw a similar level of aggression and lack of respect.

Short track veteran and two-time series winner Layne Riggs fell victim to it and expressed plenty of thoughts in the aftermath of his own woes.

“I think kerfuffle [is] the best way to put it; that was our whole night,” Riggs told Motorsports Hotspot after the race Friday. “I’m a short track guy and I love short track racing, but I hate this racetrack [at] the national series level. It’s really sad when the late model race here [at Martinsville] is the cleanest one there is. It’s just so crazy in the Truck Series.

“You can be doing everything right, and then the guy that’s five [cars] back hits [someone], he hits [someone] and then you get hit and you get spun around. Who do you even get mad at at that point? It's annoying.”

On Tuesday afternoon, it was announced that Smith was docked 50 points and fined $25,000 for his actions on the last lap. The only time in recent history that something similar happened, outside of right hooks, was the finish to last year’s Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway when Austin Dillon wrecked Joey Logano in near-identical fashion to what Smith did before also right hooking Hamlin off of turn four coming to the checkered flag.

Dillon won the race, but was stripped of his playoff eligibility as well as lost 25 driver and owner points.

The penalty to Smith is at least a step in the right direction and something many drivers called for, but there is still worry that similar incidents might occur.

How can it be fixed, or is it even fixable at this point? Hill, at least, isn’t sure of either answer.

“I don’t know what you do. I think Justin Allgaier is a great one to ask,” said Hill. “He came to me in victory lane and he and I had a great chat. Obviously, he was frustrated, but he understands where I’m coming from and what position I was in. He did say, ‘Man, I kind of feel like I owe you one a little bit, but at the same time, it’s Martinsville and I get it.’

“I told him as he was walking away that the last person I want to run into on the racetrack on the last lap is him, because Justin and I … we race each other very cleanly. You saw it last week at Homestead,” he continued. “We raced each other with respect. He was a better guy on the restart and was better on the short run than I was, and because of that he won the race.

“So, again, I hated that this one ended the way it did and I hated that I got into Justin because of that. If I’d run into somebody else, I probably wouldn’t be that upset about it, truthfully. But with it being Justin, I feel so bad because he’s such a nice guy and he’s always done me right on the racetrack. When the door opens to win one of these races, especially at a place like Martinsville – you don’t win every time you come here, and I can’t express enough how difficult it is to win here – so when the door was open for me, I had to take it and hope it worked out.

“That doesn’t mean that I felt good about doing it, though.”

The “win and you’re in” playoff system has been a catalyst for moments like Saturday, where drivers put everything on the line to have a chance to take home a trophy. While it has created amazing memories, it has also led to growing frustrations.

Only time will tell what comes next, but many in the industry have certainly reached their limit.