Cup drivers awaiting NASCAR ruling on 'embarrassing' Xfinity race

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — NASCAR Cup Series drivers have a vested interest in how NASCAR reacts to the finish of Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway. 

They want to see how NASCAR handles Sammy Smith knocking Taylor Gray out of the way for the lead in the final turn, resulting in both of them wrecking and Austin Hill slipping by for the win.

They need to see if NASCAR reacts for two main reasons:

— How and if the league penalizes Smith could indicate how it would rule if similar instances happen in the Cup Series.

— Any penalties will send a message to up-and-coming drivers on what NASCAR considers out of bounds.

"The sanctioning body needs to get involved a little bit and step in on egregious things," said Denny Hamlin, who won the Cup race at Martinsville. "I think it's continued to ramp up, right? We've seen this stuff.

"It used to only happen on green-white-checkereds. Then this place, it seemed like inside 20 [laps] to go, people would lose their minds. Those guys yesterday did it with 50 to go, absolutely just creaming each other. It was just horrible driving by most of the people out there. It's just not a good look."

Hamlin knows something about penalties for intentionally wrecking another driver when it is not a dangerous right-rear hook. He was docked 25 points for intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain to gain positions in the final laps at Phoenix in 2023.

Last year, Austin Dillon had contact with Joey Logano and Hamlin between Turn 4 and the finish line at Richmond. Dillon was also docked 25 points and wasn’t allowed to use the win for an automatic bid to the playoffs.

Smith appeared to deliver a hard bump to Gray with no attempt to just get him loose to get by. He finished in 10th place. Taylor