NASCAR News: Sammy Smith wins Talladega Xfinity ‘wreck fest’

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith won Saturday’s United Rentals 250 Xfinity overtime wreck fest at Talladega Superspeedway and earn Smith an automatic berth into the next round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

He is the 16th different driver to win this season.

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.

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.

The race was stopped three laps from the scheduled distance after a 12-car crash. The cars of playoff contenders Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Parker Kligerman were damaged in the incident.

If they ain’t wrecking, they ain’t racing – NASCAR style

A huge 13 car pile-up brings out the red flag at #Talledega!💥

Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Carson Kvapil, Parker Kligerman, Alfredo, Love, Custer, Lupton, Allmendinger, Burton, Perkens, Retzlaff, and Honeyman all collected.#NASCAR #TalladegaSuperspeedway pic.twitter.com/Ug66ORYUiA

— Last Lap Insider. (@LastLapInsider) October 5, 2024

“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.”

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.

It’s the Big One at @TALLADEGA! @DanielHemric goes upside down a large chunk of the @NASCAR_Xfinity field is collected in this massive crash. 💥 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/09cWJEFPGu

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) April 22, 2023

“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.

Big wreck on the @TALLADEGA tri-oval with multiple #XfinitySeries #NASCARPlayoffs contenders involved. pic.twitter.com/paKP5TZMyz

— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) October 5, 2024

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.

Talladega Xfinity Race Results