Sammy Smith spent the weekend before Martinsville pulling off a double no-non-Cup driver had managed at a single track since Greg Biffle in 2001, winning both the Truck and O’Reilly Series races at Talladega. One week later, that momentum lasted until an early restart, when a multi-car wreck hindered Corey Day’s Chevrolet and sent Lavar Scott’s No. 45 spinning.

The wreck was loud enough. The radio traffic that followed was louder. 

“Tell him I said ‘shut up.’ Tell him I said, right now, ‘shut up.’ Don’t ever apologize to me again, ever. This is the second time. Tell him I personally said, ‘shut up,'” Lavar Scott said over the radio after his team relayed Smith’s apology, as reported by Jordan Bianchi on X. 

The wreck itself unfolded quickly. Smith had pitted under the previous caution and restarted in the middle of the field. Entering Turn 1 around Lap 37, he dove to the inside, drove through Ryan Ellis’ No. 02 and then clipped Scott. 

The No. 45 turned sideways into Day, and Ellis and Brent Crews were collected as well. Every car drove away, though Day was left with heavy right-rear damage and Smith needed front-end repairs on pit road.

The timing made it more than a nuisance. Smith and Day were both Chase drivers, and the wreck pushed each of them back for a while. Neither stayed there. Day eventually came home third, while Smith, who drives for the team Dale Earnhardt Jr. co-owns, recovered to finish seventh. Scott, a rookie driving the No. 45 for Alpha Prime Racing, ended up 18th in a race won by Carson Kvapil.

Scott’s words suggested this was not a one-off in his mind. He did not spell out what the first time was, and it is not clear from the race reports which earlier incident he meant.

Sammy Smith’s Martinsville history adds to the scrutiny

Smith’s past at this track explains why another restart-related wreck draws attention. In March 2025, he was running second in the Xfinity Series race when he drove into the rear of race leader Taylor Gray’s No. 54 Toyota entering Turn 3 on the final lap of overtime. The contact spun Gray and handed Austin Hill the win. 

It followed a restart exchange in which Gray had moved Smith up the track, and Smith later said he was not proud of what he did while pointing to a gesture he claimed Gray made under the red flag.

The confrontation did not end when the cars stopped. Smith and Gray traded words outside the infield care center before being separated. NASCAR docked Smith 50 points and fined him $25,000, while Gray and Jeb Burton were each fined $5,000 for care center conduct.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. responded as well, though he waited until he had cooled off before calling his driver. On the Dale Jr. Download, the JR Motorsports co-owner said Smith understood he had made a mistake and had hurt both his own image and the organization’s. However, it was only the first step toward rebuilding trust. 

Earnhardt said the team would keep supporting Smith while trying to help him make better decisions in the moment. Smith himself apologized publicly the following week at Darlington, saying he had made a mistake and hoped to be forgiven.

Scott’s name had also surfaced in a separate flashpoint involving Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team at Phoenix earlier this year. With about 35 laps to go in the March 7 race, Anthony Alfredo spun Scott on the backstretch and brought out a caution while JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil was closing in on the leaders and chasing his first career win. Justin Allgaier ultimately won, Alfredo finished 10th and Scott ended up 33rd.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. publicly pushed back after Mark Martin praised Alfredo, who had been filling in for Alex Bowman in Hendrick Motorsports’ Cup car. “He wheeled it right into Lavar Saturday night,” the former Cup Series driver wrote. 

He later explained that he had been angry about the caution and had spoken with Alfredo directly. It showed that Earnhardt was willing to call out contact he felt had cost his team, even when the driver involved was not part of JR Motorsports.

For Smith, the Martinsville restart revives questions that followed him out of the track in 2025. His apology acknowledged the mistake, but Scott’s response showed it did little to settle things, and Smith heads into the season finale with another incident in his Martinsville file. 

With Dale Earnhardt Jr. having made his expectations clear before, the latest wreck gives Smith another reason to think about how his moves on restarts land on the drivers around him.