Taylor Gray Still 'Not Cool' With Sammy Smith Despite Clean Battle

"Yeah, we talked. No, I'm not cool with him, no. If that's what you're asking."

After Taylor Gray collected his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win in a clean battle over his rival Sammy Smith in Saturday's IAA And Ritchie Bros. 250 at Martinsville Speedway, the sting of the Joe Gibbs Racing's driver's devastating loss at the hands of Smith's aggression in the spring race at Martinsville is still fresh.

Race Results: IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250

Gray was partly thankful that Smith cooled his jets this time around, as he feels Smith knew he had some fisticuffs coming his way if he were to cross the line on Gray and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team again.

"I think he knew better. I think he knew he was going to get himself in a fight if he wrecked me," Gray explained. "So, yeah, I think he probably played this one out a little smarter in a sense."

While he was thankful Smith kept his head on straight in the closing laps, the driver also credited his own studying after the spring race, which allowed him to figure out how to keep competitors out of striking distance on late-race restarts heading into Turn 1.

"I think it's a combination of two things," Gray said of his first career triumph. "I think it's redemption, and I also think it's a group of things I've learned from the two races I've lost here, and made sure I didn't lose another one when I was in contention."

Saturday's win was great, but nothing will ever be able to replace the Martinsville grandfather clock that slipped through his grasp earlier in the year.

Honestly, it was surprising that Smith didn't attempt to rough Gray up more than he did as his championship hopes were on the line, and as it turned out, a runner-up finish wasn't enough to advance him to the Championship 4.

But in the end, he will possibly gain some respect from Gray, as Gray has a chance to look back on it in the coming days, and he undoubtedly gain a lot of respect from the remainder of the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage for accepting defeat with grace, a seemingly lost art form in today's NASCAR.

Martinsville Speedway also marked the end of the championship dreams for Brandon Jones (finished third), Sheldon Creed (4th), and Sam Mayer (7th).

The four drivers, who will fight for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway are Connor Zilisch (finished ninth), Carson Kvapil (18th), Jesse Love (23rd), and Justin Allgaier (26th).

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway is set for Saturday, November 1 and will be televised on The CW. The race broadcast is set to kick off at 7:30 PM ET, and as a gift to the fans, Xfinity, which is set to depart it's title sponsorship of the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the end of the season, will present the final Stage of the race commercial-free.

The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of that event.

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