Martinsville Speedway always delivers drama, and Saturday’s IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 didn’t disappoint. As checkered flags waved, the half-mile paperclip turned into a pressure cooker, with old grudges and fresh frustrations bubbling up under the Virginia lights. Drivers pushed limits to cross the checkered flag.

But the real drama unfolded between Jeb Burton and Sam Mayer post-checkered. Their on-track tussle, rooted in lingering Talladega beef, turned the cool-down lap into a flashpoint that left crews shaking their heads and officials reviewing highlights.

Jeb Burton lays into Mayer’s post-race tantrum

The fireworks erupted after the cool-down lap when Sam Mayer, still bitter from a late-race bump, hooked Jeb Burton‘s No. 27 Chevy hard into the outside wall. Burton’s team watched helplessly. As there was a sequence of revenge in action between the two drivers at Martinsville because Burton’s late-race bump to Mayer was in response to a move made by Mayer on the restart in stage 1, who was desperate for points, to which Burton radioed angrily, “F–k him and his championship!”

NASCAR officials flagged the move of Mayer wrecking Burton post-checkered, with penalties pending, but the real heat came in Burton’s raw garage debrief with Frontstretch.

“I think Sam was mad that last week he got taken out in an accident at Talladega,” Burton said, referencing the Oct. 18 big one that sidelined Mayer’s No. 98 Chevy early. “And we’re on old tires at the end of stage one, I believe, and he s–t me out of the way. I was on the front row for no reason.” That shove dropped Burton to 20th, scrambling his strategy and fueling his fire. And in payback, Burton fired back by sliding Mayer in the final corner.

Burton didn’t mince words on Mayer‘s retaliation, branding it straight-up immature. “He destroyed our car and wrecked us… he literally right-reared me into the outside wall,” he fumed. “I race a lot of people out here with respect, and I just want it back, and he ran over me for no reason, so I gave it back to him, and he threw a temper tantrum.”

The Virginia native, who’s always prided himself on clean wheels, called Mayer a “punk” whose antics scream playground bully. Especially after Talladega’s chaos, where Burton owned his role and apologized publicly. As neither driver is in the final 4, these types of incidents still underscore how thin the line is between hard racing and hot tempers in Xfinity’s cutthroat chase.