MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Tempers flared for a second night in a row at Martinsville Speedway. The sequel featured Chandler Smith and Cole Custer, two drivers vying for Championship 4 berths.
After a hard battle for second position during the final stage, Smith moved Custer up the track. The caution flew immediately for Brandon Jones getting spun by Sheldon Creed to set up a restart.
During the caution period, Custer asked his team if he should choose behind Smith on the restart, knowing what was likely coming. From third position, Custer chose the outside of the second row and moved Smith up the track entering Turn 1.
“What comes around goes around,” Custer said. “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. 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.”
There was no doubt in Smith’s mind that Custer “shipped” him up the track.
“Go back and look at history all day,” Smith said. “The second place always picked top, third place always picked bottom and it worked out for them. I think he was the first guy all day that was third and picked the top lane.”
With the race playing out how it was, Smith needed to chase down his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Aric Almirola and score the victory in order to advance to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. Custer needed to hold his ground and not have a driver below the elimination line bump in via victory or else he wouldn’t have the chance to defend his 2023 championship next weekend.
In the closing laps, Almirola pulled away from Sammy Smith, scoring his third win of the season. Smith and Custer finished third and fourth, respectively, and followed each other down pit road after the race.
When the two drivers exited their cars, Smith went over to the No. 00 Ford to vocalize his displeasure with Custer. It ended with a slap from Smith before team members from Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing jumped in to separate the drivers.
Chandler Smith swings at Cole Custer after a heated confrontation. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/4osliPjkC3
— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) November 2, 2024
“I asked him why he didn’t even give me a chance,” Smith added. “[Custer] said, ‘I was in a must win for the owners’ and I said, ‘That’s great, I didn’t know you were a team owner. I know your dad has a high up in that deal, but you’re not a team owner, you’re a driver.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Cole, we’ve raced each other with a tremendous amount of respect. Granted, I have done him dirty a few times this year and I owned up to it, reached out to him, apologized, made amends and all that. I beat his bumper off for five laps, I didn’t ever ship him and then I finally shipped him, the caution came out, he picks behind me and doesn’t even give me a chance to get into Turn 1. I get it, but at the end of the day, I thought it was a little bit of a chicken [expletive] move.”
Custer expected Smith to be aggressive, noting the duos prior battles at Martinsville in the spring and in September at Kansas Speedway. On both instances, Custer came out on the wrong side.
“For him to come over here and say I don’t have a reason to race, that’s no reason at all,” Custer said.
Custer has been in a fair share of post-race incidents, but said he didn’t even realize Smith slapped him upside the head.
“He walked up started to be mad and I guess he punched me in the face,” Custer said. “I didn’t even notice it, really. … “Pretty short. The other ones we’ve gone to the ground. That one was short.”