NASCAR to meed with Xfinity drivers prior to Darlington race

Yesterday at 10:39 AM

NASCAR officials with meet with Xfinity Series drivers Saturday at Darlington to discuss their actions in a wreck-filled race last weekend at Martinsville that a senior executive called a "disaster."

The Martinsville Xfinity race had 14 cautions. The final 100 laps of the 256-lap event had nine cautions and the race ended with Sammy Smith knocking Taylor Gray out of the lead in Turn 3 on the final lap and triggering a multi-car crash as the field raced to the finish.

Elton Sawyer expressed his disappointment Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio‘s "The Morning Drive" with how the drivers raced at Martinsville.

"The Xfinity guys have an opportunity to go back there (to Martinsville) in the fall and redeem themselves on a race, obviously a lot of discussion around," Sawyer said.

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Sawyer also said what will be expressed to the Xfinity drivers in their meeting with series officials Saturday at Darlington.

"I think it‘s mostly just letting them understand, or at least give them the message of how they can process what happened (last) Saturday and how they learn from that and earn the respect of their fellow competitors," Sawyer said. "NASCAR racing, we‘ve been built on, pushing and shoving is fine, tire marks are fine and that‘s OK. It‘s a contact sport. We totally get that.

"But we do have to step in from time to time when they cross the line, and we just want to let them know that this is crossing the line and we will step in.

— NBC Sports —