NASCAR competition officials have announced that they will meet with the Xfinity Series garage after a chaotic race at Martinsville Speedway.
As NASCAR SVP of Competition Elton Sawyer explained during a Wednesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, they needed to step in and help Sammy Smith and other drivers learn how to race at a national series level.
"There was a multitude of bad decisions that (were) made by a multitude of drivers throughout that event, and we plan to address that with that garage this weekend in Darlington," Sawyer said.
A key member in this discussion is Smith, the JR Motorsports driver who sparked the most criticism after the race. Smith hit Taylor Gray from behind in Turn 3 and sent the Joe Gibbs Racing driver up into the outside wall.
NASCAR viewed this move as intentional and responded with a penalty. They took away 50 driver points and dropped Smith to 13th in the standings. They also fined him $25,000 for his actions on the track.
"I don't think there is, again, anything new, and I think there's a collective thought around how you correct that," Sawyer said. "And our position to do that was with points and money."
Of course, Smith was far from the only driver making moves that warranted criticism, which explains NASCAR's decision to meet with every driver in the Xfinity garage.
Denny Hamlin, the winner of the Martinsville Cup Series race, called out Austin Hill and Sam Mayer on his "Actions Detrimental" podcast. He said the two drivers "raced like a*******" during the Xfinity Series race.
Ross Chastain took a slightly different approach to the discussion. He told media members at the NASCAR Production Facility on Wednesday that he thinks these drivers would act differently if they could re-do the race.
"That last wreck is the most glaring one, but that whole race, there were a lot of broken fenders and noses and tails and race cars way before the last corner," Chastain said. "So yeah, I think if you give those drivers the opportunity to do it again, they will do it different.
"And that's what the Xfinity series is there for. What's the tagline? 'Where names are made.' And they're learning. It's the first time they've been on that big of a stage for that series."