Sammy Smith upsets the playoff picture with Talladega Xfinity win

Sammy Smith restarted on the front row alongside Riley Herbst as the race went into overtime. Leading the bottom train, he surged ahead after the outside line got stacked up. Driving the No. 8 JR Motorsports (JRM) Chevrolet, he then held off Ryan Sieg to earn his second-career win and his first victory of the 2024 season. 

“Just a great team,” said Smith. “It’s been a really tough year … Man, it’s been a while. It’s been a struggle. I’m very happy to be here and looking (forward to) getting better on these ovals and road courses.”

He also mentioned JRM team owner and superspeedway racing ace Dale Earnhardt Jr., who advised him ahead of the race weekend. “We sat down with him on Wednesday,” said Smith. “It wasn’t a whole lot — just kind of some stuff he would do in those situations. But man, it feels really good to win again.”

Behind Smith and Sieg, Riley Herbst was third, Sheldon Creed fourth, Chandler Smith fifth, Jesse Love sixth, Jeb Burton seventh, David Starr eighth, Brennan Poole ninth, and Kyle Sieg tenth.

The Big One finally struck just three laps shy of the scheduled finish, which set up the final sprint to the checkered flag. Carson Kvapil lost control and crashed in the middle of the pack while running fifth. The incident began after an awkward push from teammate Brandon Jones with over a dozen other drivers piling into it. That wreck pushed the race into overtime and caused a red flag.

Race rundown

The race began with the Richard Childress Racing duo of Jesse Love and Austin Hill leading the field to the green-flag. Chandler Smith won the opening stage with all 25 laps running caution-free. Hill went on to win the second stage, which was marred by a wreck involving playoff driver Parker Kligerman.

As the final stage got underway, the field quickly became three-wide, several rows deep as the laps clicked by. With 20 laps remaining, A.J. Allmendinger took control of the race while disaster struck for his Kaulig Racing teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Williams. Van Gisbergen got out of shape mid-pack, but saved it. Moments later, Dean Thompson got turned down into the No. 97 Chevrolet, which was now running on the apron. Van Gisbergen was abruptly hooked back across the track, igniting a multi-car crash that collected several others including title challenger Austin Hill.

After that, the field was tightly packed together as the closing laps approached. Just three laps shy of the finish, Kvapil lost control after a shove from Jones sent him fish-tailing. The result was a massive pileup that halted the race. In the two-lap shootout, Smith bested the remaining drivers with a little help from Sieg, earning his first win since March of 2023.

Playoff driver DQ’ed

Following tech inspection, playoff driver Sam Mayer — who finished 16th — was disqualified, completely changing the battle around the cut-line. He was going to leave Talladega on the bubble, ten points up. The disqualification cost him all 24 points he scored during the race, putting Allmendinger above the cut-line and on the bubble.

Allgaier is now just seven points out, Van Gisbergen 10 points out, Mayer 13 points out, and Kligerman 16 points out.