By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
Another night of tempers flaring at Martinsville Speedway featuring one driver’s bid of advancing into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 evaporates.
Last night, it was a verbal confrontation between Taylor Gray and race winner Christian Eckes. Fast forward to Saturday night, it was a verbal confrontation with an attempted punch from Chandler Smith to Cole Custer after the National Debt Relief 250 concluded.
Without a NASCAR ride in 2025, Chandler’s mission was simple — win and advance for a shot at a Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway next Saturday.
However, the reigning champion got in the way of accomplishing the daunting objective in the eyes of the soon-to-be departing Joe Gibbs Racing competitor.
There was no love lost between Chandler and Custer as both fought hard for a win at Kansas, only for neither visiting victory lane as Aric Almirola ultimately won the race.
In the eyes of Custer over a month ago, he didn’t appreciate having to lift off the throttle exiting Turn 3 as Chandler cut the racing line off.
Such action wasn’t forgotten by neither men as evident when it came to crunch time. With 31 laps remaining, both racers were chasing down Almirola for the win. A win by Chandler meant Custer would be the first man out of the Championship 4.
As they entered Turn 1, Chandler bumped Custer out of the way and took second.
Seconds later, the caution came out when Chandler’s teammate Sheldon Creed sent Brandon Jones into the wall, bunching up the field for a critical restart. Almirola chose the inside lane while both Chandler and Custer picked the top which led to a breaking point for both racers.
A textbook move of “race others how they race you” was applied by Custer, who gave a bump right back at Chandler entering the first corner.
“What comes around, goes around,” said Custer after the move over the radio.
The move relegated Chandler from second to fifth that left him irritated and made his intentions known that such move could cost him a shot of retaining the Xfinity title. Especially when Sammy Smith, whose only option to move on is by winning, was now ahead of Custer and in position of knocking him out of the Championship 4 with a win.
“What he’s going to do is get his fucking ass beat up after the race if he keeps fucking around. Little punk ass bitch,” Chandler opined on Custer’s move.
Sammy fought hard to chase down Almirola, as did Chandler. But like many songs from The Smiths, it was a sad, frustratingly bleak outcome. More visible from Chandler as he saw his teammate Aric Almirola pull out the broom and win in Virginia, knowing he won’t have a shot at racing glory in Arizona.
Already upset about finishing third, Chandler took his time to take off his gloves and helmet before fourth-place finisher Custer parked his car behind him.
Once Custer came into the picture, Chandler switched up in anger as both outcomes at Kansas and Martinsville cultivated in angry feelings.
Both men vented their frustrations before Chandler swung his closed right hand and tried landing a punch on Custer as if they were in the NXT parking lot. Immediately thereafter, Custer’s pit crew stormed onto Chandler before being pulled away without any more drama escalating on pit road.
Custer’s defense on moving Chandler stemmed down that he was not only fighting for the Drivers’ Championship, but also dire of putting the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing in the Owners’ Championship 4 which he failed to do so. Almirola’s win meant the No. 20 JGR team would fight for the Owners’ title over the No. 00 team, thus the frustrations Custer had during the post-race confrontation.
“I guess he’s mad, but what comes around goes around,” Custer said of Chandler. “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.”
Like Eckes in the Craftsman Truck Series, a target could be on Custer’s back heading into next Saturday’s finale that could cause a rave of damaged feelings at any point of the race.
“I think at the end of the day he put us in the wall a few times this year,” Custer added. “He kept us from winning a race, I feel like, at Kansas. He used the bumper on me, so I used the bumper on him.”
Regarding the punch from Chandler, Custer heeled it up to the folks in attendance and viewers watching saying there was barely any connection.
“I don’t know how we’re not even, and then he punches me in the face,” said Custer. “I can’t even tell if he really punched me in the face. It was so soft, but we’ll go on to Phoenix.”
Custer’s remarks of being in a must-win for the Owners’ title weren’t lost on Chandler when discussing his point of view of the matter.
Compared to Custer, whose father Joe Custer is the president of SHR, Chandler was vocal that if a ride isn’t etched into stone in 2025, he’ll have to work with his father in construction. A result of not having the proper backing to fund himself or a race team that could land him a seat in NASCAR’s three national touring divisions.
“I’m a driver. I’m in a must-win situation. He was not at that moment, and he didn’t even try to make the corner,” said Chandler. “Granted I moved him the lap before, but I’m beating his bumper off for the five laps before that. I gave him grace, before I finally shipped him, and then he doesn’t even try to give me a chance going into turn one. It is what it is.”
Now eliminated, the mission was cut and dry for Chandler in what may be his final race.
“We’re going to go to Phoenix, and we’re going to try and kick their ass there,” said Chandler.
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