NASCAR Chevy Wins ‘Dumpster Fire’ Xfinity Race At Martinsville

A series of mistakes by the leaders opened the door for Austin Hill, who seized the opportunity and drove the No. 21 NASCAR Chevy to Victory Lane in the Xfinity Series race at Martinsville on March 29^th, 2025 – winning a race that commentator Mike Joy said was a pure “dumpster fire.”

The No. 8 Chevy of Sammy Smith and the No. 54 Toyota TRD Supra of Taylor Gray held control as the field headed to an Overtime restart. Gray lunged ahead, but not for long as Smith lined up a shot and struck the Toyota’s rear bumper, sending Gray for a spin and damaging the nose of his No. 8 Chevy. Behind Smith, Hill made contact with the No. 7 NASCAR Chevy of Justin Allgaier, forcing Allgaier into Smith and effectively knocking them both out of contention, clearing the way for Hill.

Hill dodged all three wrecking cars, slipping by on the low side with the No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse of Sheldon Creed in tow. The delta at the line was just 0.190 seconds between Hill’s No. 21 NASCAR Chevy and Creed’s Ford as the field wrecked and tangled behind them.

“I chose the bottom because of how rough everybody was on restarts,” Hill said of his starting position heading to the final green flag. “I had to do what I had to do on the last lap. On that restart, it just got wild. We were definitely leaning on each other, and getting into [Turn] 3, I knew we were all going to get beating and banging, and I just drove it in as deep as I could.”

He added, “Man, I’m in disbelief that we’re in Victory Lane right now. It’s unbelievable. I actually said at the end of the race that I hated this place because of all the beating and banging that was going on.”

All told, there are 14 caution periods for 104 laps at Martinsville. The absolute chaos prompted Joy to comment on the Xfinity race during the Cup Series broadcast.

“I said the Xfinity Series was a dumpster fire. Well, it’s not,” Joy said. “A dumpster fire is contained. And that series is not right now.”