Taylor Gray speaks out about beef with Sammy Smith after Martinsville race

Following a heated incident on the track with Sammy Smith at Martinsville, Taylor Gray is ready for a cease-fire. But perhaps not for the reasons you may think.

The Xfinity Series driver opened up on Sirius XM NASCAR about his incident with Smith, which saw him wrecked in the final lap of the race. Asked whether his beef with Smith was over, Gray gave an interesting response.

“I have too much respect for [JRM] to start wrecking their cars just to prove a point,” Gray said. “If Sammy owned and worked on his own car, then I would probably be telling you a different story.”

In other words, there’s still some definite animosity there. Just perhaps not enough for further intentional retaliation.

The entire race on Saturday night was fraught with questionable driving and a whole lot of unnecessary contact. Broadcaster Mike Joy went as far as to call the race a “dumpster fire.”

Sammy Smith’s contact on Taylor Gray in overtime took the cake. It wiped a good chunk of the field out right before the start/finish line, drawing immense and immediate criticism from just about all corners in NASCAR.

Cup Series driver Christopher Bell, who isn’t that far removed from his Xfinity Series driving days, chimed in on the mayhem following the Cook Out 400 over the weekend. He had a lot to say.

“I mean yesterday was absolutely infuriating. My blood was boiling inside the motorhome watching it,” Bell told journalist Claire B. Lang. “It was a disgrace for our sport. That should not be tolerated. Not just the last lap, but the whole thing. We’ve got to hold ourselves to better standards than that. That was embarrassing.”

So what happened exactly? Well, the most egregious contact came in overtime of the Xfinity Series race.

Sammy Smith cleared out Taylor Gray from behind going into Turn 3, causing Gray to spin. That also ended up ruining Smith’s chance to win, as he got caught up in the wash.

Instead, Austin Hill slipped by for the win. But the carnage that unfolded behind the start/finish line was considerable.

“I don’t know. Something has to be done,” Bell said. “I think I said on the podium at COTA and said hopefully this is a step in the right direction, and the Cup races have been good. They’ve been really good and fair and clean. But yeah, yesterday was absolutely embarrassing. Something needs to be done. I don’t know where it starts probably in NASCAR. Yeah, that was bad.”

Whether Taylor Gray will let sleeping dogs lie remains to be seen. Needless to say, the whole thing has definitely added an extra layer of drama to the Xfinity Series.