Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks silence as NASCAR – Sports News
JR Motorsports’ 20-year-old phenom Sammy Smith was docked 50 playoff factors and fined $20,000 after his dangerous collision with Taylor Gray in final weekend’s Xfinity Series race in Martinsville.
His boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr, despatched the younger driver a message in his most up-to-date ‘Dale Jr Download’ podcast episode (although he took his time to choose his phrases). “I thought on it. Didn’t just freaking wipe it out of my mind and just go about my way. I sat on this for 48 hours,” Earnhardt started.
“Sammy’s my driver. This ain’t for anybody else, y’all can continue to be pissed and think what you want,” he said, speaking directly to the 20-year-old. “But for me, I got to shift to what do I do to give Sammy the best, most honest advice I can to help him shift to do better. I gotta figure out how Sammy can clean this up. It’s a mess he’s made.”
“The Sammy deal sucked. Sammy f—– up,” Earnhardt admitted. “We’re gonna try to give Sammy everything we can and support him going forward.
Smith still managed to finish in 10th, but his run-in with Gray cost him a chance at his first XFinity series win of the year of 2025 season.
He drew the ire of many when he confronted Gray post-race. Earnhardt admitted he will try and help the 20-year-old learn from his errors by shielding him from criticism while admitting he won’t ban him.
“There are a lot of people out there like, ‘NASCAR‘s gotta park him. Dale Jr. should park him. Dale Jr. should fire him,” Earnhardt added.
“Anybody who thinks I’m going to park Sammy for a race — that’s out of the question,” Earnhardt stated. “Never gonna happe, I wouldn’t suggest it again. Waste of a tweet.”
Smith is in his second yr driving the No. 8 Chevy SS for JR Motorsports. He gained two consecutive ARCA Menards East tournaments earlier than becoming a member of JR Motorsports forward of the 2024 season.
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Smith was named the 2023 NASCAR XFinity Series Rookie of the Year and improved a season later, ending eleventh within the 2024 XFinity Series standings. Martinsville marked his second top-10 end of the season.
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