Smith Penalized For Final-Lap Actions At Martinsville

Sammy Smith (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – NASCAR competition officials penalized JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Sammy Smith Tuesday for his actions at the end of Saturday’s Marine Corps 250 at Martinsville Speedway.

Smith made aggressive contact with then-leader Taylor Gray entering turn three on the final lap of overtime, spinning Gray in turn three and generating a stack-up that caused a multi-car crash exiting turn four with the checkered flag in sight.

Austin Hill slipped through to win the race, while Smith fell back to 10th as he was swept across the finish line in the melee.

Upon the release of the post-race penalty report, Smith lost more as well, as he was docked 50 driver points and fined $25,000 for what was considered a behavioral penalty under Sections 4.4 B&D of the NASCAR rule book, detailing code of conduct guidelines for NASCAR members.

It drops the Iowa native from sixth to 13th in the Xfinity Series standings, now 128 back of series leader and teammate Justin Allgaier and one point behind Gray, who moves up to 12th.

Smith also becomes the driver on the provisional playoff cut line on points through seven regular season races. He sits just one point ahead of Brandon Jones, the first driver currently on the outside looking in.

“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,” Xfinity Series Managing Director Eric Peterson explained. “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, that unfortunately, what Sammy did was over the line and something that we felt 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.”

Following the race, Gray and Smith exchanged verbal jabs outside the infield care center, with Smith noting that he’d intended to contact Gray’s car because of earlier gestures from Gray’s side.

Gray was fined $5,000 – as was Jeb Burton, who was also swept up in the last-lap incident – for what NASCAR officials called violations of infield care center conduct under Section 4.4 D.

“Taylor and Jeb were in the care center post-race and there was some behavior that (NASCAR officials) felt stepped over the line as far as interrupting a medical situation,” said NASCAR Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde during the newest taping of the “Hauler Talk” podcast.

“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.”

Additional penalties assessed Tuesday included two-race suspensions for Jonpatrik Kealey (rear-tire changer) and Aslan Pugh (jack) of the No. 88 NASCAR Cup Series team from Trackhouse Racing, after driver Shane van Gisbergen spun from a detached right-rear wheel on lap 274 of Sunday’s Cook Out 400.

Those suspensions take effect starting with this weekend’s Cup Series activities at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

The No. 00 Haas Factory Team Xfinity Series squad for driver Sheldon Creed was fined $5,000, while Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Truck Series team for driver Rajah Caruth received a $2,500 fine, both for having one lug nut not safe and secure during post-race inspection.