October 5, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

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.”

“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.


UPDATED: Note: No. 1 car disqualified.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 28
Race Results for the United Rentals 250 - Saturday, October 5, 2024
Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL - 2.66 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 98 Laps - 260.68 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 10/5/2024 @ 08:25 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 27 8 Sammy Smith (P) TMC Transportation Chevrolet 98 10 2 50 Running 5 5 5
2 15 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 98   35 Running 1 1
3 7 98 Riley Herbst (P) Monster Energy Ford 98  6 39 Running 6 22
4 4 18 Sheldon Creed (P) Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 98 5 8 42 Running  
5 3 81 Chandler Smith (P) Wheelers Toyota 98 1 5 48 Running 2 11 1
6 1 2 Jesse Love # (P) Whelen Chevrolet 98  3 39 Running 3 28
7 16 27 Jeb Burton Golden Corral Chevrolet 98   30 Running  
8 23 14 David Starr Holt St. Chevrolet 98   29 Running 1 1
9 30 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 98   28 Running  
10 34 28 Kyle Sieg Onsite Power Academy Ford 98   27 Running  
11 5 16 AJ Allmendinger (P) Morris-Shea Bridge Co. Inc. Chevrolet 98 2 7 39 Running 4 13
12 6 48 Parker Kligerman (P) Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet 98   25 Running  
13 38 45 Tommy Joe Martins Prime Bites Brownie Chevrolet 98   24 Running  
14 19 42 Leland Honeyman # Mezrano Injury Lawyers Chevrolet 98   23 Running  
15 32 43 Ryan Ellis Classic Collision Chevrolet 98   22 Running  
16 33 38 Matt DiBenedetto Malvern Panalytical Ford 98   21 Running  
17 21 07 CJ McLaughlin Main Street Auto Chevrolet 98   20 Running  
18 31 29 Blaine Perkins UAB Medicine Ford 98   19 Running 1 1
19 9 20 Aric Almirola (P) He Gets Us Toyota 98   18 Running  
20 22 26 Dean Thompson(i) Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 98 9  0 Running  
21 29 35 Joey Gase Donate Life AL/NFPA Chevrolet 98   16 Running  
22 37 53 Carson Ware TWR Wheel Repair Ford 98   15 Running  
23 2 21 Austin Hill (P) Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 98 4 1 31 Running 2 7 1
24 36 15 Dylan Lupton N.C. Hurricane Relief Ford 97   13 Running  
25 14 7 Justin Allgaier (P) BRANDT/TradeMark Nitrogen Chevrolet 97 3  20 Running 2 8
26 10 00 Cole Custer (P) Haas Automation Ford 97 8 9 16 Running  
27 18 88 Carson Kvapil Clarience Technologies Chevrolet 91   10 Accident  
28 20 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Little HUG Chevrolet 91  10 10 Accident  
29 13 5 Anthony Alfredo Dead On Tools Chevrolet 91 6  13 Accident  
30 24 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 91   7 Accident  
31 35 91 Kyle Weatherman DGM Racing Chevrolet 87   6 Running  
32 11 19 Taylor Gray(i) Operation 300 Toyota 75 7  0 Accident  
33 26 32 Jordan Anderson Volpi Foods Chevrolet 75   4 Accident  
34 17 11 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 75   3 Accident  
35 8 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # (P) WeatherTech Chevrolet 75  4 9 Accident  
36 28 51 Jeremy Clements One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet 60   1 Brakes  
37 25 92 Nick Leitz Precision Measurements Inc Chevrolet 41   1 Accident  
38 12 1 Sam Mayer (P) First Bank of Alabama Chevrolet 98   1 Running 1 1

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 5 Mins, 12 Secs. Average Speed: 124.927 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.177 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 81, 16, 7, 21, 18, 5, 19, 00, 26, 8
Stage 2 Top 10: 21, 8, 2, 97, 81, 98, 16, 18, 00, 9

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 6 for 27 laps; Laps: 27-31 (Stage 1 Conclusion [20]); 43-46 (#92, 27, 11, 26, 48 incident turn 4 [91]); 52-56 (Stage 2 Conclusion [91]); 76-81 (#19, 26, 97, 21, 32, 11 incident frontstretch [91]); 85-87 (Debris on the backstretch [91]); 93-96 (#9, 2, 16, 48, 00, 5, 7, 88, 31, 29, 15, 21 incident turn 1 [20]).

Lead Changes: 28 among 11 drivers; A. Hill (P) 1-3; A. Allmendinger (P) 4-5; S. Mayer (P) 6; A. Allmendinger (P) 7-8; R. Sieg 9; J. Love # (P) 10-20; C. Smith (P) 21-27; B. Perkins 28; J. Love # (P) 29-41; J. Allgaier (P) 42-48; A. Hill (P) 49-52; D. Starr 53; R. Herbst (P) 54-59; J. Love # (P) 60-63; R. Herbst (P) 64-66; S. Smith (P) 67; R. Herbst (P) 68; C. Smith (P) 69-72; A. Allmendinger (P) 73-80; S. Smith (P) 81; A. Allmendinger (P) 82; R. Herbst (P) 83-86; S. Smith (P) 87; R. Herbst (P) 88; S. Smith (P) 89; J. Allgaier (P) 90; R. Herbst (P) 91-97; S. Smith (P) 98.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series


CURRENT NASCAR XFINITY SERIES STANDINGS

POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-

1 8 Sammy Smith Chevrolet +8   WINNER
2 81 Chandler Smith Toyota +64
3 00 Cole Custer Ford +37
4 21 Austin Hill Chevrolet +37
5 18 Sheldon Creed Toyota +32
6 2 Jesse Love Chevrolet +22
7 98 Riley Herbst Ford +20
8 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet +7

On The Bubble

9 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet -7
10 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Chevrolet -10
11 1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet -13
12 48 Parker Kligerman Chevrolet -16