Ty Gibbs, Sam Mayer Fight on Pit Road after Xfinity Race

Having both lost the fight for the win on Friday night in the Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway, Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer proceeded to fight each other.

Brandon Jones was celebrating on the frontstretch as the brawl emerged just feet from where AJ Allmendinger was preparing to celebrate securing the Dash4Cash. That’s what all of this was ultimately about.

Gibbs lost the bottom during the second overtime attempt and Jones filled the hole -- remarkably driving away from the most dominant car of the race.

Meanwhile, Gibbs and Mayer found themselves second and third on the final lap and racing for $100,000. They ended up three-wide with Landon Cassill and the battle resulted in Gibbs getting shoved into the wall on the final corner due to contact from Mayer.

The official results show Mayer in fifth, and Gibbs in eighth.

Gibbs tailgated Mayer down pit road following the cool down lap. Gibbs climbed out of his car and walked towards Mayer. After a brief animated conversation, Gibbs shoved Mayer and started to walk away.

Mayer followed and the two exchanged shoves. Gibbs was unhooking his HANS Device to remove his helmet as Mayer shoved him again. Gibbs then tossed a right hand that landed on Mayer’s face. Gibbs missed with a left hook.

Both drivers were then dragged to the ground by officials and crew members. A NASCAR official was injured during the melee and was loaded into a ambulance via a stretcher. Gibbs and Mayer were both called to the NASCAR hauler for a conversation with Xfinity Series director Wayne Auton.

Afterwards, Gibbs explained what led to the fight.

"I was going to go up and talk to Sam," Gibbs said. "I was just frustrated. We led the whole thing and got drove in the fence, which is understandable – everybody is racing hard at the end of the day. Congrats to the 19 team and Brandon for the win. We had a great car.

"… I talked to Sam. I was frustrated. I was like, ‘What are you doing?,’ when we got drove in the fence. We were kind of shoved a little bit and I turned away.

"When I got grabbed and kind of pulled, that just led up to that moment. It just built up, built up, built up and I snapped and that’s just part of it. Hopefully, I learn from it."

Before the meeting inside the NASCAR hauler, Mayer chalked it up to short track racing and ground rules Gibbs has established over the course of the season.

"I put a bumper to him for 100 grand and he got upset about it," Mayer said. "He’s been doing that to everyone else for a couple weeks."

Mayer said he didn't appreciate Gibbs walking up to him with his helmet on.

"It’s kind of funny because he walked up to me, I had my helmet off already," Mayer said. "He had his helmet on so obviously he was scared about something or he had it in his mind to throw a punch the whole time. That’s on him, not me.

"I’ll talk to him if he wants to but I’m fine. I couldn’t care less. I’m going to move on and race everybody just as hard. That’s what the Xfinity Series is all about. I’m going to go out there and do my best and he can do whatever he wants."

Gibbs says this is the first time he's ever been booed to that degree.

"No, it's part of it, and at least they're making noise," Gibbs said. "So that's a good thing, I guess. I talked to all the NASCAR guys in the (hauler) -- Wayne, Steve (O'Donnell) and Sam and we're all on the same page."

And again, this all happened because Gibbs wasn't able to hold on to the lead on the final restart.

"Yeah, I don't know," Gibbs said. "I was a little bit free, entry to center. I just got off the bottom and he jumped inside me. And at that point, it's fair game. We're short track racing.

"I wasn't upset about any of that. I just walked away and got grabbed. I didn't want to fight at all. I was trying to take my HANS of and then I got grabbed and everything led to that moment."