Denny Hamlin did everything right on Sunday. He led 274 of 400 laps and cruised to a clean win in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville. No drama. No late-race chaos. Just vintage Hamlin doing what he does best. But his dominant performance was quickly pushed out of the spotlight. Why? Because the day before, the Xfinity Series delivered something entirely different.

That race turned into a demolition derby. Nine cautions flew in the final 100 laps. But it was the last-lap wreck that stole the headlines. Sammy Smith, running behind Taylor Gray, sent his car barrelling into the No. 54 Toyota. It wasn’t a bump. It wasn’t even close. Smith wrecked Gray, wrecked himself, and sparked a pileup. While Austin Hill won the race, no one was talking about him. Hamlin certainly wasn’t.

Just after the race, the three-time Daytona 500 winner didn’t hold back. “Absolute garbage,” he posted on X. “If I was in the booth, I’d get fired, but I damn sure would call these idiots out,” he further added. That sentiment echoed around the NASCAR world as fans and experts called for more discipline and respect from young drivers. The wreck at Martinsville didn’t just cost Gray a win—it ignited a full-blown discipline debate. Sammy Smith’s aggressive move and unapologetic attitude sparked outrage.

After the incident, the JR Motorsports driver defended his move saying, “I’m not proud of it, but he would have done the exact same thing to me, roles reversed.” However, NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace wants something done.

On the latest episode of his daily podcast, Wallace didn’t just vent. He offered a fix that was part of NASCAR’s golden era. “So, NASCAR, bring back the penalty box… If they start getting rough, park them. Park them for 10 laps. Put them out of the race. If they wanna pull it off, then that’s your point. But you park them. But they gotta stay in their car. Park them two, three laps, you know. Start rough. They start driving like fools and park them. Put them in the penalty box. And we used to have that. Bring the penalty box back,” he said.

His comments reflect that Wallace wants NASCAR to physically pull drivers off the track mid-race. Not fines. No point deductions. Real-time penalties. Ten laps. Five laps. Whatever it takes to send a message. If a driver uses his car like a weapon, he sits. Period. And this won’t be the first time that NASCAR has such a rule. In the 1990s and early 2000s, NASCAR used this system. One of the biggest and most hilarious examples of such punishment took place in 1996.

At the Coca-Cola 600, Kyle Petty found himself on the wrong side of NASCAR’s rulebook after rough driving triggered a multi-car wreck. He was hit with a five-lap penalty for making contact with Ted Musgrave during a restart. But things got spicier when Petty’s team owner, Felix Sabates, loudly protested the call, especially since similar actions by legends like Dale Earnhardt often went unpunished. NASCAR didn’t take the criticism lightly and slapped on two more laps for unsportsmanlike conduct, bringing Petty’s total penalty to seven laps.

Sabates fired back with flair, painting Petty’s car black the following week at Dover to mimic Earnhardt’s iconic No. 3, complete with the phrase “All is fair in love and war” in Spanish on the doors. While this was a hilarious incident, these punishments were race killers. And they worked. Drivers knew there were lines they couldn’t cross.

However, that line has now blurred. Next-generation cars are tougher. Drivers can take more damage and keep racing. That’s part of the problem. The cars are encouraging contact. And without in-race punishment, there’s no fear of consequence. Wallace sees it happening every week. He says today’s drivers have no respect because there’s no one to hold them accountable.

And that’s why he called out the Xfinity Series director directly. Wallace said the upcoming meeting with drivers shouldn’t be polite. “You don’t stand up and go, ‘Gentlemen.’ First of all, they’re not gentlemen. Right now, they’re assholes,” he said. His advice? Go in aggressively. Tell them they’ve embarrassed the series. Threaten them with consequences. “Act like it’s your series,” Wallace demanded.

It’s not just one legend demanding change. Kevin Harvick embodied this reaction from a more practical standpoint. “They don’t care. I mean, he pretty much Sammy Smith pretty much said I don’t care what he thinks. I don’t care what they think. I’m doing what I think I had to do. I have no respect for that guy. What about the guys that got to go back and fix your car? I know that I’ve had my ass reamed by my team. They hated me when I would do dumb stuff like that.” 

Taylor Gray takes the high road!

After the Martinsville wreck, Taylor Gray could’ve let his emotions take over. He had every reason to. Leading the race with one lap to go, only to be turned around by Sammy Smith and shoved into a pileup? That’s the kind of moment that turns calm drivers into wrecking balls. But even with the sting of a lost win and a 29th-place finish, Gray didn’t lash out. Instead, he kept it classy.

When asked by Sirius XM NASCAR Radio if he was still holding a grudge against Smith, he said, “I have too much respect for [JRM] to start wrecking their cars just to prove a point. If Sammy owned and worked on his car, then I would probably be telling you a different story.” It’s rare to see a 20-year-old rookie with that kind of perspective. But Gray knows what’s at stake. He knows the NASCAR world is small.

If you start trashing cars and burning bridges, you don’t just hurt your rivals—you might close doors for yourself. Especially with someone like Dale Jr., who’s known for building careers. The Martinsville race left a bad taste for many in the garage. But Taylor Gray gave fans a reason to be hopeful. He walked away from a wrecked car and a lost win without letting emotions take over. He knows his moment will come. And when it does, it’ll come the right way.