Chandler Smith strikes Cole Custer after NASCAR Xfinity playoff race at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chandler Smith slapped Cole Custer on pit road after Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity race at Martinsville Speedway.

Smith was upset for how Custer raced him late in the event. Custer advanced to next week’s Championship 4 race, while Smith did not.

After the race, Smith and Custer stopped next to each other on pit road. Smith walked over to Custer. After a brief discussion, Smith slapped Custer.

Smith needed to win to advance. He was second when there was a caution with less than 25 laps in the 250-lap race. He got there after bumping Custer out of the way.

When the caution waved, Custer was third. Custer lined up directly behind Smith on the outside lane for the restart and then hit Smith in the rear bumper and sent him up the track.

“Granted, I have done him dirty a few times this year and I owned up to it, reached out to him, apologized and made amends and all that,” Smith said. “Right then I beat his bumper off for five laps. I didn’t never ship him and then finally I shipped him.

“The caution came out, he picks behind me and doesn’t even give me a chance going into Turn 1. I get it, but at the end of the day I thought it was a little bit of a (expletive) move, honestly.”

Said Custer: “I guess he’s mad, but what comes around goes around. At the end of the day, he put us in the fence a few times this year. He used his bumper on me, so I used my bumper on him. It is what it is. You go and race for a championship and you’re put in these situations. I don’t mind doing it to him because he’s done it to me.”

This is the second time the two have had a confrontation in the playoffs. Custer was not happy with how Smith raced him at Kansas and expressed his feelings after that race on pit road.

Smith has said that he doesn’t have a ride for next season and is unsure if he’ll be driving.

Before Saturday’s race, Smith wrote on X: “Today, I’ll fight, I’ll claw, I’ll drive like my life depends on it. Regardless of the outcome this has been one of the best/most fun I’ve had in racing in years. Lets Ride 81 Team.”