JR Motorsports Reacts to Sammy Smith’s 50 Point, $25,000 NASCAR Penalty

JR Motorsports has responded to the penalty handed to Sammy Smith by NASCAR after he rear-ended race leader Taylor Gray on the final lap of the Xfinity Series race at Martinsville.

Smith was penalized with 50 points and fined $25,000 for causing the collision, which not only compromised their race positions but also set off a chain reaction behind them that wrecked multiple cars.

Austin Hill found a gap and won the race, but the incident that occurred behind him raised eyebrows and attracted heavy criticism from NASCAR veterans. Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported that Smith, Gray, and Jeb Burton attracted penalties for being involved in the crash and for the altercation that followed outside the care center. He posted on X:

“Sammy Smith docked 50 points for taking out Taylor Gray at end of Xfinity race at Martinsville. Fined $25K. Similar penalty [a smaller amount because it’s Xfinity, ed] as Cindric at COTA. Taylor Gray & Jeb Burton fined $5K for going into care center area to confront drivers.”

Now, Pockrass has confirmed that JR Motorsports won’t be appealing NASCAR’s ruling to Smith. He shared on X:

“JR Motorsports will not appeal the penalty to Sammy Smith.”

Gray was penalized for confronting Smith outside the infield care center as both drivers nearly came to blows. Fortunately, security prevented the situation from getting worse. NASCAR took note of the incident and handed a $5,000 fine to Gray. Burton also attracted a similar penalty since he was reportedly present outside the care center.

Addressing the penalty handed to Smith, Xfinity Series Managing Director Eric Peterson said:

“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.

“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.”

Newsweek Sports reported Smith’s reaction after the chaotic race. He said:

“I mean, absolutely, it was egregious. I mean, yeah, I’m not proud of that, but I mean, if roles were reversed, he would have done the same thing. He’s got no respect for me.

“I didn’t move him those first prior restarts and you know, he was flipping me off under the red flag, swerving at me, you know, it’s definitely uncalled for and I’m not proud of it, but he would have done the exact same thing, and that’s what I told him.

“You know, we’ll see what happens after that.”

He added:

“I mean, it’s unfortunate, you know, he’s – if you’re not the one doing it, someone’s going to do it to you. Everyone’s gonna dog on me and I’m not proud of that but at the end of the day, it’s what you got to do. So, we’ll move on to Darlington.”