“Absolute garbage.”
“Unacceptable.”
“Complete joke.”
Those are just a few of the many strong reactions on social media from drivers, crew members and fans after Saturday’s (Mar 29) chaotic and controversial US Marine Corps 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill came away the winner after Sammy Smith dive-bombed and dumped Taylor Gray going into turn 3 on the final lap. Smith’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier then slammed into Smith in turn 4, slowing both drivers down and allowing Hill to sneak by on the inside and reach the finish line first.
The contact between Smith and Allgaier would result in a massive accident on the frontstretch that collected many drivers, but it was far from the only notable accident of the day. A whopping 102 of the race’s 256 laps were run under caution, an ugly statistic that was largely the result of drivers being overly-aggressive and not showing any sort of respect or etiquette towards one another on track.
Surviving the chaos behind Hill was Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed, who scored the 14th runner-up finish of his Xfinity Series career. Allgaier, Brennan Poole and Sam Mayer rounded out the top five.
The Winners
Hill may have only led one lap on Saturday, but it was the lap that mattered the most. The Georgian had an up and down day which included several run-ins with other drivers throughout the event, but after pitting for tires during stage three, he methodically worked his way back up the running order and into the top 10. While all of the late-race chaos certainly worked out in Hill’s favor, that shouldn’t take anything away from his impressive drive through the field during the closing stint of the race.
It was yet another runner-up finish for Haas Factory Team’s Creed, but the strong result didn’t come easy. Creed started 18th and seemed to struggle with his car during the opening portion of the race, but after picking up track position through pit strategy, the Californian managed to keep his #00 Friends of Jaclyn Ford up front for the remainder of the event and had a shot at the win in the closing laps. The finish was Creed’s third top-five result of the season, after finishing fifth and third at Daytona and Homestead, respectively.
It was an impressive rebound for Creed’s Haas Factory teammate Mayer, who had to pit under yellow during stage two to fix damage to his Audibel Ford Mustang. Mayer drove back up through the field to finish fifth, but the strong run wasn’t without controversy, as he had several run-ins with other drivers throughout the event, most notably in the final stage when he made contact with Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes coming off of turn 2, triggering a multi-car accident that took Eckes and multiple drivers out of the race.
Lastly, several underdog drivers took full advantage of the chaos and calamity in the closing laps of the race to score strong results for their teams.
Alpha Prime Racing’s Poole scored an impressive fourth-place finish after working his way back up the running order on fresher tires and passing multiple drivers in the final corner. The finish marked Poole’s best result since he finished second at Kentucky Speedway in 2017 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
In addition to Poole’s strong day, it was a great race for Dean Thompson and Kris Wright, who finished sixth and ninth respectively. Thompson started 12th and spun out twice during the event, but rebounded both times and came home with a top-10 result. Meanwhile, Wright qualified way back in 30th, but persevered and kept his Our Motorsports Chevrolet out of trouble to score his first career top-10 finish.
The Losers
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Gray clearly had the car to beat during the second half of the race, as he led 87 laps on the day and seemed to have the field covered during the many late-race restarts. On the final restart of the event, Gray nudged Smith out of the lead in turn 1 in a classic bump-and-run maneuver, and coming down the backstretch on the final lap, it seemed all but certain that Gray would score his first career series win. That was, of course, until Smith dive-bombed Gray into turn 3 and spun him out, resulting in Gray finishing a disappointing 29th. Smith, meanwhile, still managed to finish 10th while wrecking across the finish line, but his reputation on-track has certainly taken a big hit after the decisions he made behind the wheel on the final lap of the race.
It was a tough day for JR Motorsports’ rookies Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch, who both showed great speed throughout the race but ended the night with disappointing results. Kvapil qualified second and finished there in both of the opening stages of the race, but got run into by several drivers throughout the event, relegating him to 20th. Zilisch, meanwhile, led the most laps on the day and won both of the opening stages, but also had multiple incidents throughout the event and was spun out by Joe Gibbs Racing’s William Sawalich on a late-race restart, resulting in heavy damage to Zilisch’s Chevrolet. Zilisch would finish 28th, with Sawalich finishing right in front of him in 27th.
Finally, there was disappointment for Nick Sanchez, Eckes and Jesse Love, who showed great speed at points throughout the race but were all collected in a big wreck with 18 laps to go, which would also bring out a red flag. The three Chevy drivers finished 32nd, 34th and 37th, respectively.
Fuel for Thought
While Martinsville has always been known for physical and aggressive racing, what we saw on Saturday night definitely crossed the line. It’s one thing to move a driver out of the way, but it’s another to just slam into them with seemingly no care or regard for others, and we saw that many, many times throughout the race. Nobody should want to see competitors just driving through each other on every restart, especially when these drivers are supposedly the future stars of the sport who we will be watching for years to come.
While I’m all for NASCAR letting drivers handle disagreements over on-track incidents themselves, if they can’t race with at least some level of respect at short tracks like Martinsville, the sanctioning body may need to start stepping in and issuing penalties for over-aggressive driving before things get even more out of hand than what we saw on Saturday.
Paint Scheme of the Week
Parker Retzlaff’s Prime Bites Protein Brownie Chevrolet was certainly one of the more eye-catching paint schemes on track Saturday. Retzlaff qualified 27th but overcame adversity to finish 12th in the race.
AMAZING comeback from @Parker79p who dealt with handling issues all day to bring the #PrimeBites Protein Brownie #4 home in P12! 💪#USMarineCorps250 | @XfinityRacing pic.twitter.com/0MOYWw1bWB
— Alpha Prime Racing (@TeamAlphaPrime) March 30, 2025
Where to Next?
Next Saturday, the drivers of the NASCAR Xfinity Series head south for the Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway. Last year’s race was won by Allgaier, who dominated the event leading 119 of the 147 laps in his No. 7 JR. Motorsports Chevrolet. Coverage begins at 3 P.M. ET with television coverage on your local CW channel and radio coverage on the Motor Racing Network.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.