30-03-2025
Respect Be Damned: The Next Generation of NASCAR Drivers Have No Chill
Bumping and shoving are a part of short-track racing, but 10 caution periods in 130 laps coupled with a multi-car crash on the frontstretch of the final lap in the Marine Corps 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway Saturday is ridiculous and disgraceful.
Austin Hill survived the carnage from the fourth turn to the checkered flag to give Richard Childress Racing its 100thvictory in NASCAR's Xfinity Series. That moved RCR into third on the series all-time win list behind Joe Gibbs Racing (216) and Roush Fenway Racing (138). Unfortunately, RCR employees may be the only ones who remember that statistic due to the way the race ended in overtime.
At least 21 of the field's 38 cars were involved in accidents. However, it was the feud between Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith that caught everyone's attention. One that actually goes back to their years in Late Model racing. They confronted each other after the race, but security kept them apart.
Both led during the event. Gray set the pace on four occasions for 87 laps, while Smith led once for six laps. When the race restarted after the 13th caution period on lap 249, Gray led, and Smith was second. Then for the restart following the 14th caution period the role was reversed. On the final lap, Smith punted Gray as they entered turn three and spun him. Smith then triggered the massive pileup on the frontstretch as the field charged to the checkered flag. Hill, who was sixth on the final lap, sneaked underneath the spinning cars for the victory.
After the race, Hill apologized to his team for damaging his car during the race, but they didn't mind because they were in victory lane. He also felt bad about accidentally wrecking RCR teammate Jesse Love on lap 217.
However, it was the lack of remorse from the younger drivers that left everyone shaking their heads.
'I'm not proud of that,' Smith said about wrecking Gray, 'but if the roles were reversed, he would have done the same thing. He's got no respect for me.'
Smith said Gray flipped him off during the 11 minute 27 second red flag that occurred late in the race for the clean-up of a six-car wreck on the half-mile track's backstretch.
'That was the line for me,' Smith said. 'I'm not going to let him have the last bite.'
Smith also maintained, 'if you're not the one doing it, someone's gonna do it to you.'
Hill said the teams know their race cars will be destroyed at Martinsville. He even admitted that with about 40 laps remaining he told his team 'I absolutely hate this place' because of the wrecks that were occurring.
'I don't see how I can put any blame on anybody,' Hill says. 'I feel like I've been pushed around a lot here at Martinsville, and this race I kind of put my helmet on with horns out of it. If I make people mad, I make people mad.'
Fights after a race at Martinsville don't solve the issue. That's because, as Hill notes, the drivers who fought on Saturday will fight again when the series returns to Martinsville in October – 'They don't care.'
Hill, like many, believes there needs to be a change but he doesn't know the solution. He notes it's a different era in which drivers don't respect each other.
'They're just holding the steering wheel,' Hill says. 'They don't have to fix the cars after the race.'
Perhaps that is the solution – make them come into the shop and fix their damaged race cars. It worked for Jack Roush several years ago with two of his Xfinity drivers. NASCAR can issue penalties, but until the drivers understand the extensive work they have created for their crew members nothing will change.
