NASCAR
Sammy Smith is Round of 8 Bound After Talladega Overtime Victory
TALLADEGA, Ala. – From the basement to the penthouse, Talladega Superspeedway delivered a Playoff upset few could have predicted. Following a field-clearing crash and overtime, Sammy Smith was left to fend for himself as the last JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The No. 8 made every right move over the final two laps to earn a second career win and in no better time. Smith is now onto the Xfinity Series Round of 8 and the only driver safe before next week’s elimination race.
Chandler Smith took Stage 1 and prerace favorite Austin Hill retained command in Stage 2. The racing intensity noticeably increased by a few notches as laps ticked by in the final Stage. The pack was three-wide many rows deep, with very close quarters up front for the lead.
The largely clean day came to a crashing end when Shane van Gisbergen was wrecked inside the final 20 laps. The Kaulig Racing No. 97 was shoved out of line onto the apron in the trioval, and then turned across traffic.
The dash to the checkers would be stopped again with only three laps left. The pack flew apart entering turn one, as a bad bump from Brandon Jones sent Carson Kvapil wide into teammate Justin Allgaier. In total 12 cars would be involved in The Big One, including many fast contenders.
Now with a largely depleted field, the race resumed in overtime behind Riley Herbst and Sammy Smith. The No. 98 had command at the white flag but was taken three-wide by Sammy and Chandler Smith. As the top two dueled coming down to the line, it was the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet getting just enough help to clear all competition.
Smith earns an all-important Playoff victory and erases a 56-race losing drought. Entering the day 12th in points, Smith is now the lone driver guaranteed into the Round of 8.
“Just a great team, my sponsors and everyone that stuck with us,” Smith said. “It’s been a really tough year, but thank you to TMC, Pilot Flying J, Allstate Peterbuilt Group, a lot more to thank, Chevy, JRM, and all my guys, Phillip. Tyler Monn (spotter) did a really great job today helping me. Man it’s been awhile and it’s been a struggle. But I’m very happy to be here, and looking forward to hopefully getting better on these ovals and road courses.”
“(Dale Earnhardt Jr) and I sat down on Wednesday and he told me some stuff he would do in various situations. Man, it feels really good to win again.”
Behind Smith, Ryan Sieg, Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, and Chandler Smith were the top-five. Jesse Love, Jeb Burton, David Starr, Brennan Poole, and Kyle Sieg rounded out the top-10. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
The Playoff standings took a major shuffle with 12th in points taking the win. Heading into the Charlotte Roval elimination race past winner AJ Allmendinger is below the cut line, as are Justin Allgaier and Shane van Gisbergen. Any of those three drivers can easily take the checkers in next Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250. The green flag will fly at 4 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Roval will be nonstop drama for 11 drivers duking it out for seven tickets to the Round of 8.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
