It is uncommon that the principle speaking level of a NASCAR weekend is not Sunday’s Cup Collection race, however following the spring race weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, that is precisely what occurred.
Saturday evening’s NASCAR Xfinity Collection race — particularly the third stage — was a messy, caution-filled affair. Of the race’s 14 cautions, 10 got here within the remaining stage.
The common inexperienced flag run Saturday was simply 10.1 laps, with 104 of the race’s 256 laps (40.6 %) run underneath the yellow flag.
It wasn’t the primary time a race at Martinsville, particularly one within the Xfinity Collection, devolved into chaos, however probably the most egregious accident of the evening pushed it excessive.
With two laps to go, a spin introduced out the ultimate warning flag of the race and arrange NASCAR time beyond regulation.
Sammy Smith led the sector to the inexperienced flag in time beyond regulation. Brandon Jones was to Smith’s exterior, however Smith’s greatest menace raced behind him in third: rookie Taylor Grey, driving the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
On the earlier green-white checkered restart, Smith had moved Grey up the observe within the first flip to take the lead. Now with the roles reversed, Grey did the identical to Smith, muscling his approach beside Smith.
With half a lap to go, Grey cleared Smith on the exit of flip 2, even pulling away barely as the sector roared towards flip 3 for the ultimate time.
As Grey and Smith went into flip 3, Smith despatched his No. 8 Chevrolet into the nook from the subsequent county over, diving into the flip with reckless abandon and apparently no need to make the nook.
Contact from Smith’s entrance bumper to Grey’s again bumper despatched Grey round and Smith up the observe. As the remainder of the sector tried to squeeze by on the within, a number of drivers made heavy contact.
When the mud settled, Austin Hill gained. However within the second and within the days to return, that hardly mattered.
