NASCAR: After his botched intentional wreck, is Sammy Smith's 50-point penalty enough of a deterrent for others?

Is a 50-point penalty for an attempted intentional wreck on the final lap enough of a deterrent for NASCAR drivers?

Xfinity Series driver Sammy Smith was docked 50 points and fined $25,000 for his move on the last lap of Saturday’s race at Martinsville. Smith was in second on the final lap and drove into Turn 3 with the clear intention to run into race leader Taylor Gray.

The move did not end well for either driver. Gray spun high into the corner and Smith ended up spinning himself and collecting his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier. Austin Hill won the race. He was fifth entering Turn 3.

Smith’s move was the crescendo of what had been an ugly and embarrassing display of driving throughout the race. The 250-lap race — which went six extra laps because of a late crash, of course — featured 14 cautions. Twelve of those crashes were for wrecks or spins. After a 54-lap green-flag run to start the race, the longest time between cautions the rest of the way was 20 laps. And there were just four green-flag segments that lasted longer than eight laps.

As it took nearly 2.5 hours to run just over 250 laps at a half-mile track, the quality of racing stunk. And it didn’t go unnoticed. Including by Sunday's winner of the Cup Series race at Martinsville and two former drivers who are now NASCAR broadcasters.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s tweet came before Smith’s move. Earnhardt Jr. owns Smith’s car.

Saturday’s race somehow made Friday night’s Truck Series race look like a display of driving prowess. That 200-lap race had 10 cautions and eight of those were for spins or crashes.

“We want to see really hard racing and door-to-door racing, and contact is certainly a part of the sport and part of the sport at Martinsville Speedway,” Xfinity Series ...