Martinsville Speedway is a classic short track where bumping and banging are to be expected, but the NASCAR Xfinity Series was perhaps too eager in that department. Friday night’s Call 811 Before You Dig 250 seemed to refer to digging graves for much of the field as fourteen caution flags were flown for incidents, including a massive pile-up at the start of overtime that collected fourteen cars. A wild scramble to the finish only added to the nighttime fireworks as Brandon Jones held off team-mate Ty Gibbs for the win before Gibbs got into a brawl with Sam Mayer regarding final-lap contact.
Gibbs won the pole and the tone was set even before the race began as rain resulted in a delay moments after the command was given to fire engines. When the race finally began, it only lasted a single lap before Brennan Poole‘s car failed. Compared to later segments, the first stage was relatively scant on yellows as Howie DiSavino III was responsible for the only other caution when his driveshaft broke. By the end, Gibbs led Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex, Landon Cassill, Daniel Hemric, A.J. Allmendinger, Jones, Josh Berry, Mayer, and Sheldon Creed.
Stage #2 saw Jade Buford, Stefan Parsons, and Derek Griffith go around, with Parsons doing so after contact from Joe Graf Jr. who would be involved in a number of later collisions, while Griffith was the victim of a bump with Anthony Alfredo. Due to late pit stops, Jones would take the segment ahead of Cassill, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, David Starr, Alfredo, Parsons, Jeremy Clements, Riley Herbst, and Shane Lee.
The final segment could be described as all hell breaking loose as ten cautions occurred, many of which were for single-car spins brought upon by bumps from others. All four JR Motorsports were involved in an incident, perhaps notably team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.—who was making his annual one-off start—spinning employee Berry. Earnhardt himself went around with eight laps remaining to set up overtime. The ensuing green flag only resulted in a parking lot when Mayer missed a shift while restarting second and stacked up the outside line. JRM team-mate Noah Gragson restarted on the inside but came up and was clipped by Mayer. Officially, fourteen drivers were involved: Gragson and Mayer, Alfredo, Allmendinger, Berry, Brown, Griffith, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Bayley Currey, Austin Hill, Mason Massey, Myatt Snider, and Kyle Weatherman.
Gibbs and Jones comprised the front row for the second overtime attempt. Despite an effort on the inside by Jones, Gibbs kept him at bay to take the white flag. Jones tried again via the inner groove exiting turn two and successfully cleared him in turns three and four as Gibbs was shuffled back into a three-wide run with Mayer and Cassill, and the situation concluded with Gibbs being sandwiched between Mayer and the wall.
Jones pulled away to take his first win of the year, fifth in his Xfinity career, and first since Darlington in 2020.
“What a day. I can’t say that we could have called it any better,” said Jones. “We made the call to stay out for stage points and drove the thing all the way from the back to the front. We had older tyres than all of the guys at the end.
“[…] This is a driver’s race track here. I’ve won at a lot of different places now, but this is one that you really have to get after it. Ty ran a really hard race. He cleared me really early there in stage three and he had a strong GR Supra as well. It was fun to beat him. He’s hot right now and tough to beat. This was a good one.”
Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Gibbs finished eighth and Mayer fifth, which advanced the latter to the next round of the Dash 4 Cash. Gibbs expressed his frustration by bumping into Mayer on the cooldown lap. Upon exiting their cars on pit road, Gibbs confronted Mayer: their conversation escalated into shoving before Gibbs—still wearing his helmet while Mayer had removed his—threw multiple punches. Mayer attempted to tackle Gibbs and the two fell over as crewmen and officials arrived to break up the scuffle.
A NASCAR official was stretchered away from the scene after being caught in the dogpile, though he was subsequently released from the infield medical centre. Gibbs and Mayer were called to NASCAR’s hauler before the meeting ended with what The Athletic‘s Jordan Bianchi reported as them “[shaking] hands on their own accord”. Any penalties imposed by the sanctioning body will be released later in the week.
“I tried to talk to him and then he got up in my face and at that point you have to start fighting,” explained Gibbs. “We got put in a bad position there and the only thing I’m mad about is that the #1 (Mayer) didn’t have anything or wasn’t going to get past the #16 (Allmendinger) there and then I got hit in the left rear. It’s just frustrating and I got drove in the fence again, but I was on the other side of it last week. It’s just part of it.”
Mayer told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, “$100 grand on the line, put a bumper to him, that’s what short track racing’s all about. He got upset and… ‘short track racing and all that nonsense,’ so that’s whatever.” The “short track racing” remark was given with a nasal voice, intending to parody Denny Hamlin‘s (a Joe Gibbs Racing driver like Gibbs) sarcastic remark about Joey Logano following their fight at the 2019 fall Martinsville Cup race.
“He threw a couple of punches. They were weak, so I can’t say much about that.”
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 12 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 261 | Running |
| 2 | 7 | 10 | Landon Cassill | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 3 | 13 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 4 | 14 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 5 | 21 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 6 | 11 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 261 | Running |
| 7 | 4 | 18 | Ryan Truex | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 261 | Running |
| 8 | 1 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 261 | Running |
| 9 | 8 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 261 | Running |
| 10 | 15 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 11 | 30 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 12 | 20 | 38 | Parker Retzlaff | RSS Racing | Ford | 261 | Running |
| 13 | 9 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 14 | 16 | 23 | Anthony Alfredo | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 15 | 18 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 16 | 27 | 34 | Kyle Weatherman | Jesse Iwuji Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 17 | 29 | 4 | Bayley Currey | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 18 | 37 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 19 | 10 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 20 | 3 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 261 | Running |
| 21 | 36 | 26 | Derek Griffith | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 261 | Running |
| 22 | 31 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing Team | Chevrolet | 260 | Running |
| 23 | 35 | 08 | David Starr | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 260 | Running |
| 24 | 19 | 31 | Myatt Snider | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 260 | Running |
| 25 | 34 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | Running |
| 26 | 24 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 260 | Running |
| 27 | 28 | 35 | Shane Lee | Emerling-Gase Motorsports | Ford | 260 | Running |
| 28 | 23 | 99 | Stefan Parsons | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | Running |
| 29 | 2 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | Running |
| 30 | 5 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 259 | Running |
| 31 | 33 | 66 | J.J. Yeley | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 259 | Running |
| 32 | 25 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 255 | Accident |
| 33 | 26 | 91 | Mason Massey | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 255 | DVP |
| 34 | 17 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | 250 | Accident |
| 35 | 38 | 28 | Natalie Decker | RSS Racing | Ford | 242 | Running |
| 36 | 22 | 44 | Howie DiSavino III | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 37 | Driveshaft |
| 37 | 6 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 13 | Driveshaft |
| 38 | 32 | 47 | Brennan Poole | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 0 | Clutch |
| DNQ | 45 | Ryan Ellis | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 77 | Ronnie Bassett Jr. | Bassett Racing | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 13 | Chad Finchum | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | |||
| DNQ | 78 | Josh Williams | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 52 | Harrison Rhodes | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet |