NASCAR

‘Kind Of Embarrassing’: Chase Elliott Rips NASCAR Xfinity Series Drivers For Martinsville Speedway Aggression

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Jared Turner
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Jared Turner Sports Editor

Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.

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Published05 Apr 2025

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Chase Elliott

Add NASCAR’s perennial most popular driver, Chase Elliott, to the growing chorus of people within the industry who strongly disapproved of last weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

Addressing reporters on Saturday at Darlington Raceway, Elliott — who’s made his own share of controversial moves over the years — took aim at the drivers who turned the Martinsville Xfinity race into a demolition-derby style affair that sparked outrage from all corners of the NASCAR world.

Chase Elliott Fed Up With ‘Chaos’ That Ensued At Martinsville

On Saturday morning at Darlington, NASCAR conducted a mandatory meeting with the entire NASCAR Xfinity Series garage to lay down the law and let the competitors know that the on-track product they delivered at Martinsville Speedway was unacceptable.

Elliott, who rarely competes in the Xfinity Series but was making a cameo Xfinity appearance at Darlington, minced no words when asked to share his perspective of the widespread aggression that took place at Martinsville.

In speaking out, Elliott joined Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and a host of other high-profile NASCAR personalties who’ve made their feelings about what transpired at Martinsville crystal clear.

“It was terrible,” the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion said. “It was really bad. I don’t know what all has been said already, so I don’t want to add to the negativity of the week. But yeah, it wasn’t impressive at all, for sure. It was kind of embarrassing, you know, I think more than anything.”

The race, which ended in a multicar last-lap crash, featured 14 caution flags. Drivers consequently ran over 40 percent of the race under yellow.

“It wasn’t just like the last lap thing,” Elliott said. “It was just the whole race. The whole race was just chaos. They were running over each other with 75 laps to go, it seemed like.”

Chase Elliott Says NASCAR Xfinity Series Drivers Must Do Better

Although not known for running into people on the track, Elliott isn’t immune from pushing the proverbial envelope too far and getting on the wrong side of NASCAR.

It happened as recently as 2023, when NASCAR suspended the Hendrick Motorsports driver one race for deliberately hooking the right rear quarter panel of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Elliott has seemingly learned from that offense, however, and is now making his thoughts known in hopes that the drivers in NASCAR’s No. 2 division — where he spent two full seasons — will tone it down.

One driver who’s received especially intense criticism this week is JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith, who triggered the multicar last-lap crash. Smith wrecked leader Taylor Gray trying to go for the win in the final corner, setting off a chain reaction accident that handed the victory to Austin Hill.

NASCAR reacted later in the week by hitting Smith with a $25,000 fine and stripping him of 50 driver points. Smith was hardly the only driver who raced over his head at Martinsville, however.

“We’re better than that, and those guys are better than that,” Elliott said. “You just want to try to set a better example, I guess, on Sundays (in the NASCAR Cup Series) and hope that that gets taken to heart somewhere in there — that not doing things like that is a better route.”

Will Xfinity Series drivers take Elliott’s harsh critique to heart? Only time will tell.