Sammy Smith snaps O’Reilly winless streak, scores Talladega victory

Sammy Smith won the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase race at Talladega Superspeedway with a thrilling last-lap move on Saturday evening. Smith beat JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil by just 0.084 seconds in The Progress Group 250, which served as the seventh race in The Chase presented by Mobil 1, snapping a 53-race winless streak for Smith. Kvapil led a race-high 67 of 94 laps. MORE: Unofficial results | At-track photos: Talladega Points leader Jesse Love finished third and carries a 19-point lead exiting Talladega. Justin Allgaier finished fourth and leaves Alabama second in the standings. Sheldon Creed completed the top five. The first caution flag for an incident waved at Lap 57 for trouble at the front of the field. Harrison Burton was leading the inside lane when his No. 24 Toyota drifted high on exit. Kvapil dove to his left while Taylor Gray moved down to side draft, leading to contact between Burton and Gray. Gray spun and collected fellow Chase drivers Austin Hill and Brandon Jones, but all three remained on track and continued. Chase contender Parker Retzlaff worked his way well inside the top 10 during Stage 1 after starting 26th. However, his No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet spun through the Turn 3 grass with five laps remaining in Stage 1, dropping Retzlaff to last place at the stage end, two laps down, as the caution flag was not displayed, his car remaining beneath the racing surface. Retzlaff did earn the free pass to recover one of his laps under the first stage break, then rejoined the lead lap at the conclusion of Stage 2. This story will be updated.