“Make Sammy Smith pay”: Fans react as JGR’s Taylor Gray pours his heart out after unwanted Martinsville end

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Martinsville was a frenzy, as on the final corner, the win slipped away from Taylor Gray's hands with Sammy Smith rear-ending him to take his supposed revenge. However, the No. 8 driver's actions did not go well with the NASCAR fandom as fans urged Gray to make Smith suffer in the next race for taking away a sealed victory from him.

The Martinsville race appeared to be smooth sailing but had a quick change of fortunes as drivers started wrecking each other. The race eventually tallied 14 caution periods, with the race lead changing a myriad of times.

However, the most notable incident took place on the final lap. Taylor Gray had been leading the race, with JRM duo Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier following him around the track.

On the other hand, Smith had seemingly been frustrated by the JGR driver's defensive actions and decided to give him the taste of his own medicine making a lunge into the final corner, which was never going to work. He then collided with Gray and spun him around, taking a win away from his grasp.

Despite the disappointing end to the Martinsville race for the 20-year-old, Gray wrote a mature message on X (formerly Twitter):

"So close to having a clock two Martinsville’s in a row. I’m so proud of my boys best car I’ve ever had here!"

Though he maintained his composure, his fans were having none of Smith's antics and urged Taylor Gray to have his take at ruining Smith's race in the future, and wrote:

"Make Sammy Smith pay for that in the future. That was uncalled for."

Here are a few more reactions to how fans reacted to the whole ordeal:

"You were robbed by a dirty hit. Heartbroken for you!" one fan wrote.

"You deserve to have both of them but it isn’t about racing, it is about wrecking to get your way," another fan wrote.

"I wanna see payback! Bring your bulldozer to Bristol!" one person urged Gray to get his revenge."

"Can you wreck sammy smith next race," another netizen asked Gray to go all out at the next race.

While Sammy Smith's collision polarized the fanbase, the No. 8 driver asserted that what he did was right.

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Taylor Gray gives a concise reaction on being taken away from a potential maiden victory

Taylor Gray at the NASCAR: Truck Series Championship - Source: USA Today

Though Smith continued having shots at Gray, the latter retained a calm sense of demeanor and claimed how it is what it is, as he said (via NASCAR):

"It's the same story, I've lived here for two years, two Martinsvilles in a row, so it sucks, but, it is what it is."

Meanwhile, Taylor Gray will hope for a better race at Darlington and get his maiden victory that he has eluded for long under his belt.