XFINITY: Sammy Smith Fined, Docked 50 Points After Wrecking Taylor Gray

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After his desperate last-lap move on Taylor Gray last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Sammy Smith’s wallet is going to get quite a bit lighter, following sanctions being handed down by NASCAR on Tuesday.

Smith, driver of the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, has been fined $25,000 and docked 50 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver points for his conduct on the final lap of Saturday’s US Marine Corps 250.

In reviewing the incident over the last couple of days, NASCAR determined that Smith was in violation of Sections 4.4 B&D of the NASCAR Rule Book, when he decided to lunge into the final set of corners on the final lap and take out Taylor Gray.

“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,” said Eric Peterson, Xfinity Series Managing Director. “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. Unfortunately, what Sammy did was over the line and something that we feel 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.”

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Following the incident, Smith did his best to justify his actions, never once denying the intentionality of the lunge into the back-bumper of the No. 54 Toyota GR Supra that not only impacted both of their races, but the races of several drivers behind them.

The 50-point deduction drops Smith from a solid sixth-place in NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings to 13th, just a single point below the cutline heading to Darlington Raceway.

Taylor Gray and Jeb Burton were also handed out $5,000 fines by NASCAR, but not for any kind of physical contact, but rather for what the sanctioning body refers to as “infield care center conduct”.

In the NASCAR Cup Series, while significantly less dramatic, Shane Van Gisbergen will spend the next two weeks without a pair of pit crew members from his No. 88 Trackhouse Racing crew, after a wheel came detached from the WeatherTech Chevrolet in Sunday’s Cook Out 400.

Aslan Pugh and Jonpatrik Kealy will spend the next two weekends (Darlington and Bristol) away from the racetrack and will be replaced temporarily by Kenyatta Houston (rear changer) and Jordan Ferguson (jackman).

Houston serves as a full-time crew member for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, working on the No. 88 Chevrolet, in addition to select NASCAR Cup Series starts when Trackhouse enters a fourth car.

Haas Factory Team (Xfinity) and Spire Motorsports (Trucks) were also handed down monetary fines of $5,000 and $2,500 respectively, after they were discovered to have a single lug nut improperly secured in post-race checks on pit road.