IndyCar's Conor Daly left stunned by Sammy Smith's outrageous move in NASCAR Xfinity race

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Martinsville had an interesting twist in its ending. Sammy Smith dive-bombed Taylor Gray on the last lap, and Conor Daly reacted to the whole ordeal. The crash between the two drivers saw the JRM driver defending his stance on the issue as he reckoned Gray had been driving unsportsmanlike since the race started.

The Martinsville race was an eventful one in short. While Connor Zilisch started the race on pole for JRM and won the first two stages, the race turned upside down in the final segment. Gray was in the lead on the final lap with the No. 8 and No. 7 cars hounding him down to the checkered flag.

However, the JGR driver's defensive tactics did not sit well with Sammy Smith, who had been trying to move past him during the final section of the race. Frustrated from his antics, Smith braked late into the final corner, which caused him and Gray to lose their lead and handed Austin Hill the victory. While the 20-year-old was not proud of his actions, he asserted that Gray deserved to be put off, and said (via Bob Pockrass):

"I mean, absolutely it was egregious. I'm not proud of that but roles reversed, he would have done the same thing. He's got no respect for me. I didn't move him on the first few restarts, but he was flipping me off under the red flag, swerving at me."

Witnessing Smith's maneuver on Gray, Conor Daly deemed the No. 8 Chevy a "full-on missile," and wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"Oh dear. The 8 used his vehicle like a full on missile in the last corner. Yikes #NASCAR."

In his 2025 IndyCar campaign, Daly has competed in two races and salvaged a best result of 16th so far.

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Conor Daly reflects on his outing at Thermal Club

Conor Daly at the INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Conor Daly is a seasoned veteran and has raced for 11 teams in his vast IndyCar career. While he was out of a drive at the start of the 2024 season, he eventually landed at Juncos Hollinger Racing, who signed him up for another year with the Indianapolis-based squad.

However, his start to the 2025 season has not been up to the expectations he would have hoped for. The 33-year-old claimed a 17th-place finish in St. Petersburg and recorded a 16th-place finish in Thermal Club. He reflected on the better weekend and said (via Juncos Hollinger Racing):

"At the start, we kind of just got boxed in and shoved off track there and we just kind of had to work forward from there on though. But honestly, we had a couple of good passes on track, a couple of good battles and worked our way forwards. We just keep stacking away points and keep getting better one race at a time."

Daly hopes to recreate his result at the first Milwaukee race last year in the following races. He scored his first podium in eight years and JHR's first-ever top-three result.