“It takes balls to say what he said”: Mark Martin shares thoughts on Martinsville debacle involving Dale Jr.’s JRM driver

Former NASCAR driver Mark Martin came out and shared his clear opinion about the chaotic end to the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway as Dale Earnhardt Jr's JRM driver Sammy Smith caused an almighty pile-up on the last lap. The JRM driver’s move sparked debate among the NASCAR community as the leader Taylor Gray was denied of the race win.

The 0.526 mile long Martinsville Speedway is known for hosting chaotic races and the 2025 Xfinity race was no different with 14 caution flags. Gray and Smith ran 1-2 in the final few laps of the race, exchanging positions by bumping each other while entering the corner, and making the other driver run wide.

Former NASCAR driver Mark Martin was featured on a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast where Freddie Kraft brought up Sammy Smith’s move that caused the crash. Speaking about the same, Martin shared his opinion as he said:

“I want to be a Sammy fan. And I do really appreciate his honesty afterwards. It takes balls to say what he said, and I respect that. I don't know all the history and I don't know more than what I saw on television. This is how this goes. If you are a Gray fan, which I was pulling for him to win, so I didn't like him getting moved.”

“Then when he softly barely moved Sammy, this is all I saw was a very unfair, like, I'm going to get you back for moving me. There may be more to the story. It was a horrible look. It looked like he just got mad. And just went berserk down in the corner. It was a lot like the Austin Dillon deal, except Sammy didn't win. I mean, if you're going to do that, you at least need to win,” added Mark Martin.

As Sammy Smith led the race at the final restart that went into overtime, Gray in the #54 Toyota lightly bumped the JRM driver to take the lead. However, on the final lap, Smith made a Hail Mary move and bumped Taylor Gray which caused a chain reaction and led to a traffic jam crash. Austin Hill was able to avoid any damage and took the win.

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Mark Martin on NASCAR having to “police” the last lap Martinsville Speedway crash

The last lap move by the #8 Chevrolet went a little too far for many and cost Gray a race win, who finished outside the Top 20. Smith spoke with motorsports reporter Bob Pockrass after the race and shared his opinion, detailing he was going for the win and wasn't in the wrong.

Mark Martin came out and shared his two cents on how NASCAR would have to deal with the problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

“It’s a damn shame @NASCAR has been put in this situation. They should not have to police this. It hurts the sport to have to be the police of on track ethics and hurts it if they don’t. I’m critical of @NASCAR for some things but this is a no win for them,” read Mark Martin's post on X.

Sammy Smith fared better than Taylor Gray and managed to finish the race in P10 despite starting the chain reaction of collision.