Despite a fistfight dominating most of the buzz around the Martinsville Xfinity race, let’s dive into another story—one that combines heartbreak and hope, albeit only for one driver. Last week in Homestead, early contact with the wall relegated Sammy Smith to a 22nd-place finish, leaving him 95 points below the cutline. Coming to the Paperclip, he faced a must-win scenario but ultimately fell short of his own expectations.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 20-year-old phenom found himself in an intense battle with a seasoned veteran. In the race’s multi-restart finale, Aric Almirola edged out Sammy Smith by just 0.587 seconds. Although Smith missed his chance to enter the Championship 4, he remains content. After a strong showing against Almirola, Dale Jr.’s young star has accepted the outcome.

Winless Sammy Smith is content

The racy little 0.526-mile short track has been one of his strongest tracks. In four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Sammy Smith has an average finish of 7.5 and owns three top-ten finishes. “Growing up on short tracks, I feel really confident and I know the guys are just as hungry as I am to win our way into the Championship 4,” said Smith. Starting from the 7th, Smith hung around the front row at the National Debt Relief 250. He jumped as high as second and was one spot away from winning a championship berth for the No.  8 JR Motorsports team. But during the final 16-lap run, he lost ground to a lightning-fast Aric Almirola.

In a post-race interview, Sammy Smith detailed how incredibly close he was. “I felt like we were very close. I was a little bit free and a little bit tight. He looked like he was a little bit free so I could keep the gap closed up.” Yet Dale Jr’s mentee understood that too much effort would have resulted in chaos. “But yeah, I think maybe being a little bit closer or having another restart, it probably would have got even crazier.” He added, “There was no way to get to him. I was so far back. I probably would have needed to be three car lengths to be able to move him. But at that point, it probably would have been close to wrecking him. It’s just a tough spot there.” 

This race looked like a close echo of last year’s outing. Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, Sammy Smith dominated the Martinsville race. He started from the pole and led 147 of the 250 laps before finishing in third place due to a chaotic ending. Despite Almirola snuffing out his hopes of winning this season as well, Smith seemed to accept his fate. He admitted to a mixed day overall. “I don’t know, it was a good day overall. I felt like we had made a lot of progress, we had an up-and-down day. Our car was hitting both sides of the spectrum – tight, loose, tight, loose.”

Sammy Smith’s teammate, who is in a much better position, is not so much at peace.

The Championship run is a nail-biter

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Before the Martinsville race, three of Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s drivers were vying for the title. Sammy Smith was in the worst position, holding a 95-point deficit. Sam Mayers was 47 points down, and he joined Smith in a must-win situation. On the other hand, Justin Allgaier ranked the highest, holding 35 points to the good. He led a trailblazing journey this season, clinching two wins in Darlington and Michigan, besides putting up consistent finishes of 19 top-tens and 9 top-fives. Last year in Martinsville, Allgaier pulled off a “Hail Hellmann’s” stunner in the wild final dash and punched his ticket to the championship race.

Despite all the odds stacked in his favor, Justin Allgaier chose to worry. Unlike Sammy Smith’s peaceful demeanor, Allgaier did not give himself any rest. He said before the Martinsville race: “We’re in a unique situation because we have a lot of room above the cut line, but when I look at it, we’re only seven points above (fourth-place) Cole Custer. When you look at the ability of any of the four who are outside the top four, it’s apparent that it could happen, might happen. We need to be aware of the cut line but the other cars that we are around in case the cut line changes quickly.” As it turned out, Allgaier protected his starting position of 5th at the Paperclip and advanced into the Championship via points.

Sammy Smith narrowly scraped Dale Jr’s hopes of having two drivers in the title race. Now, Justin Allgaier carries the JRM beacon.