Taylor Gray conquers Martinsville OT for breakthrough career-first NASCAR Xfinity victory
Taylor Gray is the latest recipient of the grandfather clock at Martinsville Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver mastered the overtime finish and eliminated Sammy Smith from championship contention. During Saturday's race, Gray began outside the top-10, but cleared his rivals for top-5 finishes in both stages. Heading into the overtime finish, Gray was followed by three playoff drivers, Sammhy Smith, Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed, who failed to mount a challenge for the JGR driver.Gray's triumph made him the third non-playoff driver to win in the Round of 8. As such, Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil cleared the final transfer spots through points, but their race wasn't without incident. Love fell back after a pit road penalty, and Kvapil spun out in the final stages. However, Love's 40-point advantage came to his rescue, while Kvapil barely made it through by four points. Sammy Smith, on the other hand, lost out with a five-point deficit.CW Sports reported on the result with a post on X, writing, "TAYLOR GRAY GETS HIS FIRST CAREER NASCAR XFINITY SERIES VICTORY!!!"Notably, Taylore Gray and Sammy Smith clashed during the spring race at Martinsville Speedway. The No.54 driver spun out from the lead after Smith made contact on the final lap.When Sammy Smith apologised to Taylor Gray for Martinsville mishapDuring the US Marine Corps 250, Taylor Gray lost out on a potential Xfinity Series win at Martinsville Speedway. Despite the outcome, Gray had to hold back on revenge due to his regard for Dale Earnhardt Jr. In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR, the JGR driver had this to say about his final-lap incident with Sammy Smith."I have too much respect for [JRM] to start wrecking their cars just to prove a point. If Sammy owned and worked on his own car, then I would probably be telling you a different story."Smith, however, was apologetic for his actions. He spoke to NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass and admitted to his faults. Futhermore, he apologized for the incident and said,"I'd just like to apologize to the 54, the 54 team, JGR, my team, my partners for the mistake I made that, ultimately, looking back on it, I'd do a lot of things different than what I did last Saturday. I need to learn from my mistakes, and I will. We're moving forward from it. I had a good conversation with Taylor yesterday and looking forward to today."Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill won that race, while Smith finished tenth. Taylor Gray, meanwhile, had a backmarker finish at 29th. On the championship front, Chevrolet drivers have locked out the final four spots. Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier are now leading contenders for the title shot.
