Sammy Smith Steals Second Talladega Win in 2 Days

Sammy Smith won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, his second win in as many days. Smith took the checkered flag in the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, starting his sweep of both races he participated in for the weekend.

Smith and the No. 8 JR Motorsports team led only one lap en route to victory, the final one. Teammate Carson Kvapil had the best car for most of the day, leading 67 of 94 laps. Kvapil placed second, followed by Jesse Love, Justin Allgaier, and Sheldon Creed.

“That was mentally draining,” Smith said. “We did a good job sticking to our plan of getting [our teammates] stage points. I’m sure they wanted them to win but I had a good run to take it.”

During the final green flag run of the race, nearly the entire field remained in one single-file line in the outside lane. Multiple times drivers attempted to organize below them, but each time the groups quickly assimilated back to the top. All throughout the field drivers couldn’t find enough cars willing to risk their track position in order to form a competitive second lind.

Dash to the Finish

Sam Mayer was the first car to move down on the final lap, jumping from third before dropping quickly out of the top-10. The next attempt came from Smith, who backed up to teammate Justin Allgaier and made a run on leader Carson Kvapil. Smith was briefly left alone on the bottom when Kvapil drifted down and then back up to block Allgaier, but Jesse Love quickly dove down to Smith’s back bumper.

Despite Smith and Love’s line starting to lose formation coming to the finish, the No. 8 Chevrolet stayed just far enough ahead of Kvapil’s No. 1 to prevent a close ending. Though Smith made a bold move against Kvapil, the JR Motorsports cars managed to compete for the win without nixing each other’s chances, a recurring concern for the team at drafting tracks this year.

Talladega’s Victims

On Lap 57 leader Harrison Burton moved down the track into Taylor Gray, sending Gray’s No. 54 Toyota spinning in front of heavy traffic. Miraculously, only three other cars spun: Austin Hill, Leland Honeyman Jr, and Brandon Jones. All four cars continued on, though Honeyman remained on pit road for multiple laps to make repairs.

Despite his involvement in the Lap 57 incident, Austin Hill continued with relatively little effect to his car. On Lap 83, however, Hill caught the outside wall and had a tire go down. He was forced down pit road multiple times in the closing laps before finishing 35th.

“The No. 54 got turned in front of me, we got some damage from it,” Hill said. “The front end’s pushed in and stuff and that’s not ever gonna be great for pace. But that really had nothing to do with how our day went. We just didn’t have a great day honestly.”

JR Motorsports rookie Jake Finch qualified second, positioning him for a potential first career top-10. Those hopes were dashed when Finch’s No. 9 Chevrolet spun to the apron on Lap 84 and sustained two flat tires. With no cars having retired from the race to that point, Finch took home a disappointing 38th-place finish.

Chase Outlook

Jesse Love entered came into Talladega with a vulnerable points lead and one of the riskiest tracks on the Chase calendar. The venue’s inevitable multi-car crashes could’ve wiped out Love’s advantage if he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, a third-place finish allowed him to remain the championship front-runner.

Though he remained second, Justin Allgaier succeeded in whittling his points deficit from 36 to 19 on Saturday. Once the runaway favorite, a handful of poor Chase finishes left Allgaier on thin ice in his pursuit for a second championship. Now the 40-year-old has the chance to overcome Love with strong performances at Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Corey Day and Sheldon Creed stayed third and fourth in the standings, both drawing Love within striking distance over the next two races. Day went from 39 points out to 29, while Creed advanced from 59 points back to 50.

Carson Kvapil’s team was undoubtedly banking on a race win to breathe new life into the one-time points leader’s Chase hopes. A 20-point bonus would’ve placed Kvapil fourth in the standings with a modest chance at catching Love by Homestead. Instead he remains fifth, 59 points removed from the lead.

Post-Race Reactions

Race Results