Sammy Smith, Nascar Xfinity Driver Shift Tone after the post-Martinsville meeting

DARLINGTON, SC – The pilot of the Sammy Smith Nascar was on a excuse tour this week.

The penalized xfinity series racerwho was widely beaten after his controversial move at the end of the Speedway Martinsville race last week, Atletico On Saturday he made a judgment error – hitting a very different tone from an interview immediately after his clear accident of the leader of the Taylor Gray race.

“In the end, I made a mistake and I hope I can be forgiven and overcome it,” Smith said.

Smith spoke after a morning meeting between officials of the Nascar and all the pilots of the Xfinity series, to which the entire field had to attend Darlington Raceway after A martinsville disordered race This has seen more than 100 laps of caution. Some pilots said they had to wake up at 4 in the morning to get on the track from their homes to Charlotte, with the Nascar that clearly sent a message in the trial.

Nasars officials refused to speak after going, but a pilot during the meeting, granted anonymity because it was not authorized to discuss the meeting, said that the Nascar threatened to suspend all the drivers who acted similarly in the Martinsville race in October and kept them out of the event of the Phoenix Raceway championship event.

The officials prompted drivers to help the Nascar avoid making ball calls and blows of penalties in the race to clean up the races, because “we will call strikes” if he continues.

But it was Smith who hit the weight of criticisms this week after intentionally destroying Gray in the last lap and prevented the driver from winning a first race in his career. Austin Hill, who had been in fifth place in the last lap, won instead, and even the owner of Smith Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast “Dale Jr. Download” that he was never so disappointed when he left a track in his life.

Smith was anchored to $ 50 and fined $ 25,000 from Nascar, which asked him to meet Gray on Friday before one of them started the race weekend. Then they returned to the beginning of Saturday in Darlington to meet officials and drivers again.

“Second weekend meeting,” said Gray as he walked in a great white tent in the garage.

Smith said he knew that the move was wrong “immediately after doing so”, but recognized that he did not resume the move or his non -apologetic interview Postrace – which fueled only the criticisms of veterans drivers, crew members, fan and media.

“Obviously with the decision I made last week, I made many apologies to many different people this week,” said Smith, touching a list that included his team, his sponsors and even the team of Racing Joe Gibbs n. 54 by Gray. “I would like to do many things differently, and I hope to be able to recover respect for everyone as they go.”

Justin Allgaier, veteran Smith’s teammate at JRM, said Atletico His advice was “what is done is done and the only thing you can do is to do a better impression to go on”.

“The way he responds to this will be a producer of differences,” Algaier said. “This could be a moment of definition of the career for him. And I hope it will be for other drivers who will not have to make the same mistake that he made last week.”

“In the end, I made a mistake and I hope to be forgiven and overcome it,” Sammy Smith said on Saturday at Martinsville’s accident. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Allgaier and Hill both spoke in the meeting, with Allgaier who said he felt his obligation as one of the elderly of the series. Refused to deepen what was discussed.

“The only people who can fix what has happened on the track are the people out there who keep the wheels of the steering and I want to leave sport in a better place than when I arrived here,” Algaier said.

Hill said that his message during the meeting was to “run in the way you want to be correct”.

“If you go there and use that boy (in front of you) as a brake pedal and this happens four, five, six times with the same boy, in the end that boy will break,” Hill said.

Hill, who has a reputation for full contact races, spoke with Allgaier after the meeting, and the two drivers agreed to take on a leadership role in guiding young drivers in the series. There were eight beginners in the Martinsville race alone.

“(Allgaier) has several ways of looking at it than me, but both can bring our perspective in one way and try to reach both (styles) of the drivers,” said Hill.

But Hill said that Martinsville was an anomaly for a tour otherwise, adding that the second -level national series often has the best runs of the Nascar. It is only in Martinsville, in particular, he said, where “it seems that we don’t know what we are doing”.

This may not change for a race for more than six months, Hill has warned and another reminder from officials may be necessary in advance.

Otherwise, he said, “I don’t think a meeting will change the result of the playoff match in Martinsville,” he said.

Smith said that although the field did everyone because of the line, it was he who crossed it and therefore accepts his penalty and repercussions.

“It establishes a good precedent for everyone, and it is hoped that this makes our cleaner in the future,” said Smith.

(Photos of the chaotic finish at the Martinsville Xfinity Series series last weekend: Logan Rily / Getty Images)