TALLADEGA, Ala. — Sammy Smith used a last-lap pass in overtime to win the United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday and advance to the next round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs
It was a huge turn of fortune for the 20-year old Iowa native, who came into the race ranked last among the 12 playoff drivers and winless on the season. He started his No. 8 JRM Chevrolet 27th in the 38-car field but moved forward rapidly from the fall of the green flag.
“It’s been a really tough year,” said Smith, who was able to avoid multiple multi-car accidents and grab one of the eight spots in the next round. “It’s been a while and it’s been a struggle, but I’m very happy to be here and looking forward to getting better on these ovals and road courses.”
It was a high-stakes, clutch performance for the young talent, whose only other victory came in April 2023 at the Phoenix Raceway one-miler. Just this week with playoff elimination a possibility, he piqued his team co-owner’s brain for tips on racing on the Talladega 2.66-mile high banks — his team co-owner being Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won six NASCAR Cup Series races at Talladega, including an unprecedented four in a row.
“We sat down Wednesday,” Smith said. “It wasn’t a whole lot, but asking him what he would do in certain situations (on the big track). Feels really good to win again.”
Smith beat RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg to the line by a slight 0.177-second with a three-wide battle on track right behind featuring Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith rounded out the top five.
Herbst was leading with a lap remaining, only to get passed in a massive push forward that included a run by Chandler Smith — ultimately both losing out to Sammy Smith and Sieg. Frustrated, after the race Herbst immediately walked over to Chandler Smith’s car and had words with the young driver.
“I was just telling him, he had his teammate behind him and was in the best spot you want to be in and I told him he made a right move but in the wrong place,” Herbst said. “He would have won the race and all he did was kill his run, my run and his teammate’s run and let the 8 (Sammy Smith) get away.”
Pole-sitter and series rookie Jesse Love led a race-best 28 of the 98 laps in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, finishing sixth in a race marked with six cautions, a brief red flag, 11 race leaders and 28 lead changes.
Although relatively calm through the early goings — Chandler Smith won the opening stage and RCR’s Austin Hill won the second stage — the final laps lived up to Talladega expectation. Only three of the 12 playoff drivers managed to avoid being caught up — in varying degrees — in accidents on the afternoon.
Two perennial championship favorites and current playoff drivers, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger and JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier, were among those that led laps — as expected — but were also collected in multicar accidents.
Allmendinger still rallied to an 11th-place effort after his No. 16 Chevy suffered minor damage in a 12-car accident with three laps remaining that triggered a nearly 10-minute red-flag stoppage and forced overtime. Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet suffered more damage in the crash and he finished 25th.
Reigning series champion Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer was also caught up in the accident and finished 26th. Fellow playoff competitor Kaulig Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen — a three-race winner this season — was part of a multicar accident earlier with 18 laps remaining and finished 35th.
Jeb Burton finished seventh with David Starr, Brennan Poole and Kyle Sieg rounding out the top 10.
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media
