Things naturally get heated at Martinsville with so much on the line, it’s the penultimate race, the eliminator, and the championship 4 decider. Only yesterday we saw it happen in the Truck Series between Christian Eckes and Tylor Gray. Where Eckes bumped Gray out of the way to take the lead and the win, ending Gray’s championship chance.

The recent Xfinity Series race was no different as Chandler Smith and defending champion Cole Custer locked horns in the final stages of the race. Smith and Custer enter the race with a 28-point difference between them, Custer with the upper hand being above the cutline. However, Smith, being under the cutline and more desperate, did not choose clean racing, and ended up in a tit-for-tat situation with the Stewart Haas racing, ending his own championship chances.

Cole Custer and Chandler Smith’s scuffle at Martinsville

Smith was in a must-win situation and with 30 laps to go, he bumped the #00 driver out of the way as they battled for the second position. And Custer is not one to forget such stunts, however, he had to wait a bit to retaliate. As soon as Custer was shoved out of the way, he went spinning in a separate incident, leading to the raising of the caution flag. However, on the restart, Custer grabbed the first opportunity to give one back as he aggressively bumped Chandler Smith, putting both drivers several spots down in the race.

However, Smith was able to take P3 and Cole Custer followed, finishing in 4th position. While the Stewart-Haas driver will have a chance to go defend his title, it was game over for Smith, who’s already perhaps frustrated for not having a ride in the 2025 season. This expectedly had Smith furious who, after the race, walked up to Custer in the pit lane to give him some piece of his mind. As the two argued, Smith threw a punch at Cole Custer, leading to the track authorities and teams intervening and stopping the situation from escalating.

After this, the #00 driver opened up on the incident. Custer probably believes in actions have consequences theory as he explained why he did what he did. He said. “I mean obviously he’s not happy at the end of the day he’s put us in the wall a few times this year and his mistakes caught up with him, he used the bumper on me I used the bumper on him. So what comes around goes around in this deal. I’m so proud of this team, we brought everything we had today. Kept us in the fight, maximizing all year. Can’t wait to go to Phoenix now and see what to do.” 

Well, this wasn’t the first time Custer and Smith had a heated moment on the track. Even in the recent Kansas race as Custer was going for the win, he passed Smith with 10 laps to go to take the lead but got derailed by the JGR driver. Naturally, the SHR driver was infuriated for getting thrown in the fence and had warned Smith of payback. He had said, “It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He’s gonna pay the consequences for that. I’m gonna race him like he races me.”

That is exactly what he did at Martinsville, and he believes the long pending score is now settled.”I think it is what it is at the end of the day, he put us in the wall a few times this year. I felt like he kept us from winning the race at Kansas and he used the bumper on me and I used the bumper on him. I don’t know how we are not even.”

While Cole Custer believes it’s fair what he did, Smith doesn’t plan to be a mere spectator when the SHR driver goes for a 2nd Xfinity title in the Phoenix race. Post the incident, Smith said, “He can think we’re even and all, but he’s got the one that has more stakes than I do next weekend as well.”

Chandler Smith shares his side of the story

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Custer could not resist mocking the punch that had him smiling after being at the receiving end. “…He punched me in the face. I can’t even tell if he punched me in the face, it was so soft.” However, according to Smith, he was going to do a lot more than that as his frustration kept increasing in the race. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver explains that he gave the SHR driver several laps before moving him out of the way.  “I was planning to do a lot more than that (punch him), to be completely frank. I was extremely pissed off. I gave him five laps before that caution came out, and beat his bumper off. Never shipped him or anything like that.”

However, time was running out for Chandler Smith as a P3 was no good with the -28 points deficit looming over his head. And probably how desperate times need desperate measures, Smith chose not to race clean. “I finally pushed him up the track and went on our way. But I gave him a chance for five laps before that. Well, I think he was the first guy all day that choose the outside lane from third place so that’s very interesting. He didn’t even give me a chance to make the corner once we got to Turn 1.” But it still ended up in him getting eliminated.

This might also be Smith’s final season as no team is lining up behind the 22-year-old to offer a ride in the 2025 season. In a recent admission to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, he said, “Well, I don’t have a ride next year, Bob. I could be working for my dad’s construction business and I could be hanging it up at the end of this year. So, that being said, all craps will not be given at Martinsville. It’s not really any seats left open. The only seats left open you gotta bring a big, big pocketbook with you and I don’t have a big pocketbook.” However, by any means, it is too soon for the Georgia native to be hanging the helmet after showing promise. So far he’s bagged 5 wins in the Truck Series and 3 wins in two full Xfinity seasons. Well, only time will tell where he will end up in 2025.

What did you think about the Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, incident? Was it fair? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below.