• NASCAR Cup Series
  • Xfinity Series
  • NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
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RESULTS

START POS

FINAL STATUS

LAPS COMPLETED

LAPS LED

POINTS

PLAYOFF POINTS

1

Sammy Smith

8 |

27

Running

98

5

50

5

2

Ryan Sieg

39 |

15

Running

98

1

35

0

3

Riley Herbst

98 |

7

Running

98

22

39

0

4

Sheldon Creed

18 |

4

Running

98

0

42

0

5

Chandler Smith

81 |

3

Running

98

11

48

1

6

Jesse Love

2 |

1

Running

98

28

39

0

7

Jeb Burton

27 |

16

Running

98

0

30

0

8

David Starr

14 |

23

Running

98

1

29

0

9

Brennan Poole

44 |

30

Running

98

0

28

0

10

Kyle Sieg

28 |

34

Running

98

0

27

0

11

AJ Allmendinger

16 |

5

Running

98

13

39

0

12

Parker Kligerman

48 |

6

Running

98

0

25

0

13

Tommy Joe Martins

45 |

38

Running

98

0

24

0

14

Leland Honeyman

42 |

19

Running

98

0

23

0

15

Ryan Ellis

43 |

32

Running

98

0

22

0

16

Matt DiBenedetto

38 |

33

Running

98

0

21

0

17

CJ McLaughlin

07 |

21

Running

98

0

20

0

18

Blaine Perkins

29 |

31

Running

98

1

19

0

19

Aric Almirola

20 |

9

Running

98

0

18

0

20

Dean Thompson

26 |

22

Running

98

0

0

0

21

Joey Gase

35 |

29

Running

98

0

16

0

22

Carson Ware

53 |

37

Running

98

0

15

0

23

Austin Hill

21 |

2

Running

98

7

31

1

24

Dylan Lupton

15 |

36

Running

97

0

13

0

25

Justin Allgaier

7 |

14

Running

97

8

20

0

26

Cole Custer

00 |

10

Running

97

0

16

0

27

Carson Kvapil

88 |

18

Accident

91

0

10

0

28

Brandon Jones

9 |

20

Accident

91

0

10

0

29

Anthony Alfredo

5 |

13

Accident

91

0

13

0

30

Parker Retzlaff

31 |

24

Accident

91

0

7

0

31

Kyle Weatherman

91 |

35

Running

87

0

6

0

32

Taylor Gray

19 |

11

Accident

75

0

0

0

33

Jordan Anderson

32 |

26

Accident

75

0

4

0

34

Josh Williams

11 |

17

Accident

75

0

3

0

35

Shane Van Gisbergen

97 |

8

Accident

75

0

9

0

36

Jeremy Clements

51 |

28

Brakes

60

0

1

0

37

Nick Leitz

92 |

25

Accident

41

0

1

0

38

Sam Mayer

1 |

12

Running

98

1

1

0

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  • POS 1 | LEADER

    headshot of Sammy Smith

    POS1

    LEADER

    Sammy Smith

    Driver badge number 8 |

  • POS 2 | 0.177

    headshot of Ryan Sieg

    POS2

    0.177

    Ryan Sieg

    Driver badge number 39 |

  • POS 3 | 0.261

    headshot of Riley Herbst

    POS3

    0.261

    Riley Herbst

    Driver badge number 98 |

Sammy Smith advances in Xfinity Series Playoffs with Talladega win

TALLADEGA, Ala. — A last-lap pass for the win is a recurring theme at Talladega Superspeedway and that‘s precisely what landed JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith in Victory Lane on Saturday. It was the only lap he led all day but it was good enough to win Saturday‘s United Rentals 250 overtime thriller and earn Smith an automatic berth into 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 Saturday‘s 38-car field, but moved forward rapidly from the fall of the green flag, running near the front most of the day, avoiding multiple multicar accidents and making the move to the checkered flag when it counted most.

“It‘s been a really tough year,” said Smith. “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.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Talladega

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 Ryan 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.”

Polesitter 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.

Sam Mayer wheeled the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to 16th place by the checkered flag, but his vehicle was ruled too low in the rear following post-race inspection, disqualifying Mayer and his car from the event and dropping him to a 38th-place finish.

Next week‘s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course will decide which eight drivers advance in the playoffs. With Smith‘s win Saturday, three positions will be decided next weekend. Chandler Smith now holds a strong 64-point edge on the elimination-line points position with Custer, Hill, Creed, Love, Herbst and Allmendinger rounding out the top eight.

Allmendinger holds a slim seven-point advantage in the final transfer position over Allgaier. Van Gisbergen, who has won three road-course races already this year, goes into the Charlotte road course-oval hybrid 10 points back of his Kaulig Racing teammate Allmendinger. Mayer falls to 11th in the standings, 13 points beneath the elimination line, and Parker Kligerman, who finished 12th Saturday despite being collected in multiple wrecks, is 16 points off Allmendinger for that final transfer position.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to competition next week at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course for Saturday‘s Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (4 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Mayer is the defending the race winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without further issue aside from the No. 1 Chevrolet’s disqualification. The No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was found with one lug nut not safely secured, which will result in a monetary fine.