NASCAR: Unintended consequence of Martinsville fight

A NASCAR official needed to be taken to the care center after a fight broke out between Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer following Friday night’s Xfinity Series race.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs dominated Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway, only for teammate Brandon Jones to pass him for the race lead on the final lap after a late restart.

While Jones now found himself in control of the race with the checkered flag in sight, chaos ensued behind the driver of the #19 Toyota coming out of turn four of the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Ridgeway, Virginia oval on the final lap.

At that point, Gibbs didn’t have much of a chance to reclaim the lead and the win. But he was still battling for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize.

And one of the other prize-eligible drivers was longtime rival Sam Mayer of JR Motorsports.

After being forced into the middle of Kaulig Racing’s Landon Cassill and Gibbs in turn four, Mayer drove into the side of Gibbs’s #54 Toyota to move him out of the way in an attempt to win the money.

He moved him out of the way, but unfortunately for him, Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger was able to scoot past and take the prize instead.

This left Gibbs, who is known for driving everyone else exactly the same way, fuming.

He proceeded to damage his own car by running into Mayer’s #1 Chevrolet on the cooldown lap, proving that he can dish it out, but he can’t take it.

Gibbs approached Mayer in the pits, shoving a NASCAR official out of his way to get to him, and after Mayer removed his helmet, Gibbs, still wearing his, shoved him and went to walk away.

When Mayer confronted him again to continue the discussion, Gibbs took multiple swings at his head, leaving Mayer with a bloody cut above his left eye.

But one unintended consequence of the fight is the fact that a NASCAR official was caught up in it and needed medical attention afterward.

Nothing was revealed about the official’s injuries, but he was taken to the medial center and released shortly thereafter, with further evaluations pending.

All in all, the fact that an official ended up paying for a brawl between two drivers is unacceptable by any NASCAR standards. Knowing this, Mayer publicly apologized to the official involved.

We do not have confirmation on whether or not Gibbs did so, but nothing appeared on social media from him.

No further updates have been provided on the injured official.