Sammy Smith restarted on the entrance row alongside Riley Herbst because the race went into additional time. Main the underside prepare, he surged forward after the skin line acquired 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.
“Only a nice staff,” stated Smith. “It has been a extremely robust yr … Man, it has been some time. It has been a wrestle. I am very comfortable to be right here and searching (ahead to) getting higher on these ovals and street programs.”
He additionally talked about JRM staff proprietor and superspeedway racing ace Dale Earnhardt Jr., who suggested him forward of the race weekend. “We sat down with him on Wednesday,” stated Smith. “It wasn’t an entire lot — simply type of some stuff he would do in these conditions. However man, it feels actually good to win once more.”
Sammy Smith, JR Motorsports, TMC Transportation Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
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 Large One lastly struck simply three laps shy of the scheduled end, which arrange the ultimate dash to the checkered flag. Carson Kvapil misplaced management and crashed in the course of the pack whereas operating fifth. The incident started after an ungainly push from teammate Brandon Jones with over a dozen different drivers piling into it. That wreck pushed the race into additional time and brought on a crimson flag.
Race rundown
The race started with the Richard Childress Racing duo of Jesse Love and Austin Hill main the sector to the green-flag. Chandler Smith received the opening stage with all 25 laps operating caution-free. Hill went on to win the second stage, which was marred by a wreck involving playoff driver Parker Kligerman.
As the ultimate stage acquired underway, the sector rapidly grew to become three-wide, a number of rows deep because the laps clicked by. With 20 laps remaining, A.J. Allmendinger took management of the race whereas catastrophe struck for his Kaulig Racing teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Williams. Van Gisbergen acquired out of practice mid-pack, however saved it. Moments later, Dean Thompson acquired turned down into the No. 97 Chevrolet, which was now operating on the apron. Van Gisbergen was abruptly hooked again throughout the monitor, igniting a multi-car crash that collected a number of others together with title challenger Austin Hill.
After that, the sector was tightly packed collectively because the closing laps approached. Simply three laps shy of the end, Kvapil misplaced management after a shove from Jones despatched him fish-tailing. The outcome was a large pileup that halted the race. Within the two-lap shootout, Smith bested the remaining drivers with a bit of assist from Sieg, incomes his first win since March of 2023.
Playoff driver DQ’ed
Following tech inspection, playoff driver Sam Mayer — who completed sixteenth — was disqualified, utterly altering the battle across the cut-line. He was going to depart Talladega on the bubble, ten factors up. The disqualification value him all 24 factors he scored in the course of the race, placing Allmendinger above the cut-line and on the bubble.
Allgaier is now simply seven factors out, Van Gisbergen 10 factors out, Mayer 13 factors out, and Kligerman 16 factors out.
