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Sammy Smith Wins His First NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race At Talladega

by Hunter Thomas October 23, 2026 2 comments

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Sammy Smith scored his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday after announcing that he’ll be competing full-time in the series come 2027.

Smith is slated to take over TRICON Garage’s No. 15 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro next year, and in the Love’s RV Stop 225, he proved that he’s a winner and that he’ll be making plenty of noise next season.

“I’m looking forward to racing trucks next year,” Smith said. “I just want to win races and, that’s what I want to do.”

On the final lap of Friday’s race, Smith, who was piloting the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Spectrum Chevrolet Silverado, led the low line while Ty Majeski led the way up high. The field crashed behind the leaders as they rounded Turns 1 and 2, and the two lanes went head-to-head down the backstretch. Honeycutt made a move to take over the lead from Majeski in Turn 4, but once on the frontstretch, Smith switched to the high side and soared past Honeycutt and Majeski. The win marked Smith’s first-ever in the series.

“The truck was fast,” Smith said. “I felt like we did a good job putting ourselves in a good spot. Obviously, we lost track position, but thanks to Spectrum and everyone for coming onboard. Spire for giving me this opportunity.”

Tyler Ankrum prevailed in a four-wide photo finish for second-place, followed by Austin Green, Majeski and Honeycutt.

“I’m just so disappointed in myself to not make the right moves at the end of the race to get the win,” Honeycutt said. “I should have locked on to Ty longer than trying to make the move too quick. I did the same thing at Daytona, and just didn’t execute where I needed to, to finish the race off.

Honeycutt continues to lead The Chase with just two races remaining. He’s atop the standings by 43 points over Layne Riggs. That’s a solid lead; however, there have been massive points swings across the board for all three NASCAR national series, so Honeycutt can’t relax just yet. Riggs is the only driver within striking distance of Honeycutt.

“I’m sure we will be racing hard for the win next week, and we will move on to Martinsville,” Honeycutt said.

Rounding out the top-10 on Friday was Landen Lewis, Brenden Queen, Riggs, Spencer Boyd and Corey Heim. After the checkered flag, Riggs wasn’t happy with the way he and Majeski raced on the final lap, and he paid him a visit on pit road.

Gio Ruggiero won Stage 1, and Tanner Gray won Stage 2.

There were 31 lead changes among 15 drivers. Smith led a race high of 21 laps.

The caution flew on five occasions for 26 laps. The race saw three accidents, including a nine-truck pileup on Lap18 that brought out a 10 minute 3 second red flag.

Up next on the schedule, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will visit Martinsville Speedway for the Black’s Tire 200 Presented by DownEast on Friday, Oct. 30. Live coverage of the next to the last race of the season will broadcast on FS1 at 6 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images