Dale Earnhardt Jr. furious over blatant ‘disregard’ by drivers in Martinsville: “My blood was boiling”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was unhappy with how last Saturday’s (March 29) Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway turned out. There were cautions after cautions, and the event ended with JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith wrecking JGR’s Taylor Gray on the final lap, thus triggering a multi-car pileup.

Dale Jr.’s comments came during the recent episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast. He was disappointed with how the drivers completely disregarded the sanctity of the sport, the racetrack, and the cars. On that note, the two-time Xfinity Series champion said (11:10):

“I hope that they (NASCAR) handle this properly; I expect they will. Whatever that may be, we'll move forward, but listen, my blood was boiling!”

As per reports, there were 14 cautions throughout the 256-lap race. Nine happened on the last lap, with Smith’s move knocking Gray out of the lead, besides initiating the multi-car crash. One hundred and four laps were run under yellow-flag conditions.

“During the entire race, I saw decisions from several drivers that there was total disregard for the other competitors, the racetrack, total regard for the Xfinity Series, for the race cars themselves,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

That being said, NASCAR did take action against Smith. The Chevy star was charged a $25,000 fine and docked 50 points. The latter dropped him from sixth to 13th in the drivers' standings. He is at 165 points, heading into next week’s race at Darlington.

Named Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200, the 147-lap feature will be televised on CW from 3:30 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Denny Hamlin responds to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Martinsville claim

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed his thoughts via X as well. Moments after Sam Mayer ran over fellow racer Christian Eckes with under 20 to go, the NASCAR Hall of Famer posted:

“This racetrack is historic in the grand scheme of all things NASCAR and deserves better.”

The wreck that Mayer caused prompted NASCAR to bring out the red flag with only 20 laps to go. Needless to say, Denny Hamlin agreed with Dale Jr. He replied to the 50-year-old NASCAR veteran’s post with a direct comment, which read:

“It just takes 1 penalty and it will stop this s**t. For the short term that is. Gotta send a message."

Hamlin even uploaded an independent post, calling out the Xfinity drivers for turning the race into absolute chaos. He wrote:

“God I wish I were in the booth. Id get fired but I damn sure would call these idiots out.”

A day after the Xfinity race, Denny Hamlin won the Cook Out 400 Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway. With that, he ended a 10-year winless streak at the half-mile racetrack, leading a race-high 274 of the scheduled 293 laps.

That was also Hamlin’s sixth win at Martinsville. The victory locked him into the playoffs alongside Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell. Hamlin currently sits sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings with 218 points, while Bell is fourth with 224 points.