“They send guys home… NASCAR needs to put their big boy pants on.” Kyle Petty rallied harder after all the unmitigated mess of the Martinsville Xfinity race. The NASCAR universe is still abuzz from that wild conclusion at Martinsville Speedway. JR Motorsports youngster Sammy Smith made the deliberate hit on Taylor Gray on the last lap of the Xfinity race in the hopes of capturing the victory. Instead, it all went awry—Gray spun out, Smith crashed as well, and Austin Hill slid past to steal the win. “He’s got no respect for me,” Smith said after the race, admitting he wasn‘t proud but maintaining Gray would‘ve done the same thing.

The on-track accident left everyone shocked. Gray, who‘d led 87 laps and was mere inches from his first Xfinity victory, was outraged. The mayhem didn‘t end on the track—Gray and Jeb Burton, who were involved in the wreck, confronted Smith at the infield care center, earning them $5,000 fines each. NASCAR veterans such as Denny Hamlin weighed in too, saying, “The sanctioning body needs to get involved a little bit and step in on egregious things.” And NASCAR didn‘t let it pass either. They penalized Smith with a 50-point penalty and a $25,000 fine, which lowered him from 6th to 13th in position. Now, Elton Sawyer, Senior VP of Competition at NASCAR, has finally broken his silence.

Elton Sawyer explains the thought process behind the penalty

Fans are downright furious, and they’re not holding back. On social media, the outrage is loud and clear—folks are slamming NASCAR’s penalty as a measly “slap on the wrist.” One user fumed, “50 points and $25k? That’s it? He’ll just do it again!” Another chimed in, “This won’t stop anyone—NASCAR’s gone soft.” They’ve got a point. Despite the penalty, Smith is still in playoff position, which leaves one wondering: Does this discipline really hurt enough to alter behavior?

Sawyer finally addressed the uproar on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, laying it all out: “When you look at the totality of exactly what happened, that was discussed. Historically, we tried to stay with points and money on a situation like that. If you look at the history of our sport, for 76 total years, we’re in our 77th year as a sport. In NASCAR racing, this is not something that we haven’t dealt with in the past. I think you see it in every generation of drivers that come through. They have to learn how to race at a national series level. I think Sammy is a prime example of a young man that’s got a great deal of talent. Obviously made some mistakes at the end of that race that he’s going to have to learn from. We have to step in and help him with that process. That’s exactly what we did.

The anger only spiked when JR Motorsports dropped a bombshell. Team VP Kelley Earnhardt Miller said, “We’ve reviewed the situation and decided not to appeal the penalty issued to Sammy Smith. We’re focused on moving forward and preparing for Darlington.” No fight, no pushback—just taking it on the chin. With the Xfinity Series rolling into Darlington next, the garage is bracing for a tense weekend. The fans’ trust is shaken, and they’re not sure NASCAR’s got this under control.

“There was a multitude of bad decisions that was made by a multitude of drivers throughout the event… address that with that garage this weekend in Darlington. I don’t think there’s again anything new, and I think there’s a collective, you know, thoughts around you know how you correct that, and our position on it was to do it with points and money. If you look at the way it unfolded at the end of the race and where Sammy ended up finishing and by taking the (excuse me) the 50 points it moves him from 6 to 13 points so we felt like that was the that was the penalty that needed to be for this infraction.” added Sawyer further.

Then there’s Richard Petty, the King himself, weighing in with a heavy heart. Speaking to Donnie McCormick, he said, “I’ve been around this sport a long time, and that was one of the wildest finishes I’ve ever seen at Martinsville. These young guys, they’re pushing the limits, and it’s showing some cracks in how they’re coming up.” His words hinted this isn’t just about Sammy Smith, but a bigger problem brewing with the sport’s new generation. You can feel the disappointment in his voice, like a grandpa watching his grandkids wreck the family car.

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NASCAR’s further course of action

It‘s a learning process, not a crisis. But Darlington is looming, so drivers will have a hard talking-to. Fourteen cautions, 102 yellow-flag laps, and a last-lap crash that had everyone shaking their heads. Sammy Smith wrecked Taylor Gray out of the lead, it caused chaos, and Austin Hill won the thing.

“Our plans are before we run the event (Saturday) at Darlington is to have a meeting with all the Xfinity Series drivers, just the drivers only,” Xfinity Series managing director Eric Peterson said during an episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “We had one of these meetings at Daytona prior to the season starting. I feel like it went pretty well. We’ve had six really good races to start off the Xfinity Series season in 2025. And unfortunately, Martinsville was our seventh and didn’t go quite as good.”

They’re hauling every Xfinity driver into a meeting on Saturday at Darlington Raceway. No excuses, no dodging—just a straight-up reckoning. “So that’s obviously not what we’re looking for,” Peterson said. “So we’re certainly going to talk to the drivers and address that and obviously get their feedback on how they feel it went and what we can do going forward to make that better to get back to the good, hard, clean racing Xfinity Series is known for.” Fans are livid, drivers are fuming, and the sport’s holding its breath.

Can they clean this up at Darlington, or are we in for more heartbreak? NASCAR has some serious work to do.