NASCAR driver says what everyone else is thinking

Sam Mayer came right out and said what everyone else was thinking following his brawl with Ty Gibbs after Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

After contact on the track, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer got into it in the pits following last Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway, and punches were thrown.

It stemmed from a last-lap incident in turn four of the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia.

Gibbs, who had dominated the race, led the field to the green flag on the final restart with two laps to go, but teammate Brandon Jones was able to pass him on the final lap. While Jones went on to win the race, chaos ensued behind him.

Gibbs was on the outside of a three-wide battle for second place in turn four, with Mayer in the middle and Kaulig Racing’s Landon Cassill on the inside.

Cassill made the inside move stick and secured a career-high second place finish, while Mayer shoved Gibbs further up the track. The contact led to a fifth place finish for Mayer and an eighth place finish for Gibbs.

Gibbs wasn’t pleased with Mayer afterward, and he showed it in a number of different ways. First, he damaged his own #54 Toyota by running into the back of Mayer’s #1 Chevrolet on the cooldown lap, despite the fact that he was told over the radio not to do so, and he made further contact with the #1 Chevrolet in the pits, which led to a $15,000 fine from NASCAR.

Gibbs confronted Mayer, shoving a NASCAR official out of his way to do so, and he shoved Mayer as Mayer took his helmet off. But as Gibbs went to walk away, Mayer confronted him again to continue their talk, only for Gibbs to start swinging at his head. The punches left Mayer with a bloody cut above his left eye as well as a bloody lip.

While NASCAR fans have had nearly a week to digest everything that went down last Thursday night, Mayer’s assessment from just minutes after the chaos was simply spot-on, as he said what pretty much everyone else has been thinking.

"“Yeah, just 100 grand on the line. I put the bumper to him. That’s what short track racing is all about. He got upset. He threw a couple punches, they were weak. So, I can’t say much about that. It’s kinda funny.”"

It is indeed “short track racing”, and there was indeed $100,000 on the line. Gibbs and Mayer were two of the four drivers going for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize in this race, so Mayer didn’t do anything that Gibbs wouldn’t have also done. And he has proven that with the race he has raced everyone else.

Unfortunately for Mayer, while he did finish three spots ahead of Gibbs, Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger took advantage of the chaos and finished in third place to secure the prize.

He continued.

"“I just put the bumper to him for 100 grand and he got upset about it. But, he’s been doing that to everyone else, every week so far. So, I don’t understand how it can be that one-sided.”"

Gibbs has literally been racing everyone else just like that, if not worse. Two recent incidents come to mind. Early in the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month, he made a way-too-aggressive move on a much slower Ryan Sieg that ruined the RSS Racing driver’s race.

Sieg’s attempt for payback didn’t quite go as planned, leading many to believe that he has something else in store for the 19-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native later this season.

Then on the final lap of the race at Richmond Raceway earlier this month, Gibbs moved teammate John Hunter Nemechek up the track and out of the way to secure the win.

Mayer continued.

"“It’s kinda funny. He walked up to me. I had my helmet off already. He kept his helmet on. So, obviously, he was scared about something. Or, he had it in his mind to throw a punch the whole time.”"

It is interesting how Gibbs left his helmet on. Mayer could have done the same, but he didn’t, and only then did Gibbs start punching him. While some have poked fun at Mayer for getting punched in the face the way he did, what do you expect him to do? Punch a helmet and break his hand?

It is very possible that Gibbs had it in his mind to throw a punch the whole time, especially given some of his post-race comments.

Mayer concluded with this.

"“I’ll talk to him if he wants to. But, I’m fine. I couldn’t care less. I’m going to move on and race everybody just as hard. That’s what the Xfinity Series is all about. I’m going to go out there and do my best. He can do whatever he wants. At the end of the day, anybody can do whatever they want to him because he’s put himself with that reputation.”"

All in all, the whole situation proved that it’s quite easy to dish it out. It’s even quite easy to say that someone “owes him one”, as he did after the race at Richmond Raceway. But when someone actually does drive him the way he drives everyone else, you get what we saw on Friday night: a violent and somewhat cowardly display of behavior.

Sam Mayer likely won’t be the last driver to test the patience of Ty Gibbs.