MARTINSVILLE, Va.: With Dash 4 Cash’s $100,000 bonus on the line in Friday night’s Call 811 Before You Dig 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Sam Mayer saw an opportunity to swipe it from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and the move ultimately led to a physical altercation on pit road after the checkered flag.
The contact on the final lap in NASCAR’s second attempt at overtime saw Mayer’s No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro nudge Gibbs’ Toyota Supra entering Turn 3 – the contact shoved Gibbs high into Turn 4 and put both cars in a three wide position with Landon Cassill who dipped low coming to the checkered flag.
The three cars made contact with Gibbs losing all of his momentum and making contact with the frontstretch wall at the finish. Mayer finished fifth, while Gibbs settled for eighth.
On the cool down lap, Gibbs attempted to spin out Mayer’s No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro on the backstretch but failed. Gibbs proceeded to follow his ARCA rival down pit road where he climbed from his No. 54 Monster Energy Drink Toyota Supra and exchanged words with Mayer.
Mayer called Gibbs a “jackass” which initiated a shove from Gibbs to Mayer and then the two drivers proceeded to vent their frustration about the situation before words turned into a fist punch from Gibbs to Mayer which led to a brawl between the drivers and their respective crews.
The incident was short lived and eventually broken up by NASCAR officials with Gibbs immediately hauled off to the NASCAR Xfinity Series hauler to discuss an incident earlier in the race where he failed to slow down at the time of caution.
Mayer was taken to the infield care center for treatment to his face after the blow from Gibbs. He was later evaluated and released.
AJ Allmendinger who finished third walked off with the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus following his top-four performance at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
Bother drivers offered their take on the matter.
“With a hundred grand on the line, I put the bumper to him—that’s what short-track racing’s all about,” Mayer told FoxSports’ Bob Pockrass. “He got upset… he threw a couple of punches that were weak… But I just put the bumper to him for a hundred grand, and he got upset, but he’s been doing that to everyone else every week so far.”
Mayer added, “He can throw all the punches he wants. They’re weak.”
Gibbs offered his view, “I tried to talk to him and then he got all in my face. At that point, we gotta start fighting. We got put in a bad position there.
“Just frustrating. Just got drove into the fence at the end. I was on the other side of it last week, so that’s part of it.”
A NASCAR official appeared injured in the scuffle, but their condition was not immediately known.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
