50 driver points docked and a $25,000 fine under Sections 4.4 B&D- NASCAR Member Code of Conduct Penalty Options And Guidelines: That’s what Sammy Smith got for causing a multi-car wreck at Martinsville Speedway in the Xfinity Series race. You see, the driver drove into Turn 3 and wrecked Taylor Gray on Saturday. This move spun Gray and also collected Smith’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier while Austin Hill went on to win the race. Gray then went on to confront Smith, and both had to be separated by NASCAR officials.

Post the race, the JR Motorsports driver stated: “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.” However, his actions didn’t go unnoticed by NASCAR officials.

Eric Peterson, Xfinity Series Managing Director, said about the wrecking: “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.” And while Smith received a fine, Gray was also sanctioned a $5,000 fine (Sections 4.4 D: NASCAR Member Code of
Conduct Notes: Infield Care Center conduct) for his behavior post-race.

However, were they lenient on Sammy Smith?

Earlier this year, NASCAR announced that teams could only defer technical suspensions. But a suspension for an intentional wreck would be effective immediately. NASCAR chose not to suspend Smith, and perhaps the reason behind it could be that the driver would have been hit with their new penalty, which is built into NASCAR’s playoff waiver system. So it would mean that Smith would need to get a waiver for races he would miss (as a result of the suspension) and that would cause him to not be eligible to take playoff points into the postseason.

While every other driver could advance to the playoffs with the points they earned, Smith would find it difficult. This could be the reason NASCAR chose to let it go. However, a NASCAR representative told ‘Road & Track’ that they do not “take into account the new waiver rule in regards to eliminating playoff points when making that decision [to suspend.] We view that as two different rules, and that has not come into the decision making when discussing suspensions.”

Smith’s penalty was similar to the one Austin Cindric received after intentionally wrecking Ty Dillon at Circuit of the Americas, highlighting NASCAR’s intolerance towards such incidents. But the Martinsville incident left drivers and fans fuming.

“Absolute garbage,” Denny Hamlin opined about the incident, but he wasn’t the only one frustrated by it, as Christopher Bell also mentioned, “Infuriating. My blood was boiling.” Sammy Smith’s boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who co-owns JR Motorsports, also tweeted, “This racetrack is historic in the grand scheme of all things NASCAR and deserves better.”

Martinsville Speedway, widely considered one of NASCAR’s most venerable tracks, saw drivers trying to bulldoze their way through with no regard for their competitors. The crashes occurred with such regularity that the sanctioning body had no choice but to wave the caution flag an impressive 14 times. Apart from Smith and Gray, Jeb Burton was also fined $5,000 for his behavior at the Infield Care Center.

Mike Forde, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, justified the penalty by saying, “Taylor and Jeb were in the care center post-race, and there was some behavior that (NASCAR officials) felt stepped over the line as far as interrupting a medical situation.” However, in the eyes of NASCAR fans, the focus was entirely on Sammy Smith, with many feeling that he was let off with just a slap on the wrist despite stealing a victory from Gray.

Dissatisfied fans call for stricter penalties against Sammy Smith!

The verdict didn’t go down well with NASCAR fans. After wrecking Taylor Gray and initiating the multi-car incident, Sammy Smith was anything but apologetic in the post-race interview. “Smith should have been suspended,” one fan opined while another wrote, “PURE BS, Smith should be sat.”

Fining Taylor Gray and Jeb Burton didn’t go down well with one motorsports fan, who mentioned that younger drivers needed to be held accountable for their actions. The X user cynically mentioned, “As usual, NASCAR misses the mark. Smith should have been suspended and there shouldn’t be any fines for what goes on in the infield. If anything is true about the younger generations is that more of them need to get hit in the face.”

Here’s the thing: Sure, Smith has been fined for his conduct, but if he goes on to win a race in the next few weeks, people might forget about his penalty. So would a fine and docking points really teach the driver anything? We would have to see his future races to understand this. But with 26 Xfinity Series races remaining, one fan felt that a points deduction wouldn’t deter Sammy Smith from repeating his actions in the future, writing, “Needed to be suspended one race. Whole point should have been to make sure this doesn’t happen again. 50 points will not do that.”

Smith wrecking Gray also reminds us of last year’s incident when Austin Dillon was removed from the Cup Series playoffs after he intentionally wrecked Joey Logano at Richmond. The former bumped into Logano to get to the finish line to get his team into the playoffs. While the playoff berth was rescinded later, the driver still got to keep his win.

Another X user felt that NASCAR needed to come down hard on the JR Motorsports driver to discourage others from repeating his actions. Wishing that the penalty was harsher, the motorsports fan said, “Smith gets off easy. NASCAR should have made an example and parked him for a race.”

Do you think Sammy Smith deserved to get suspended for the last-lap wreck at Martinsville Speedway? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!