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Sammy Smith Snaps 53-Race Winless Streak To Sweep Talladega

by Hunter Thomas October 24, 2026 0 comments

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Sammy Smith snapped a 53-winless streak in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series The Progress Group 250 and swept the weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Smith has had a weekend to remember in Alabama. On Friday, it was announced that he’ll be competing full-time in the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series for TRICON Garage in 2027, and later in the day, he earned his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory while competing for Spire Motorsports. Fast forward to today, and Smith pulled off a last-lap move on JR Motorsports teammate, Carson Kvapil to win his first series race since Rockingham in April 2025.

“I’m out of breath,” Smith said. “That was mentally draining. Just thank you to everybody. It was a great executed race by JRM and Corey (Shea, crew chief). We did a good job sticking to our plan with getting those guys stage points.”

Smith continued and said, “Obviously, I think you know we’re out of the Championship, but you know, we can win two more races, and our goal was to win here.”

Kvapil finished a disappointing second after dominating the day. He needed a high points day to make up for the deficient in The Chase, and while he scored 13 of 14 available stage points, a win would have significantly improved his situation. Kvapil now trails points leader, Jesse Love by 59 points with two races remaining.

“Gaining points is a good thing no matter what, right, but I just feel like this was kind of a wildcard,” Kvapil said. “We needed to have a big jump in points leaving this place. Obviously, we gained 20 points, but we were 79 back or 69 back, whatever the number was, so I just feel like we were a little too far to have that Hail Mary day at Martinsville.”

Love crossed the finish line in third, so he had a good defensive day, scoring 11 of 14 available stage points after starting from the pole.

Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top-five. Corey Day finished sixth, followed by Blaine Perkins, Dean Thompson, Brandon Jones and Anthony Alfredo.

Kvapil won Stage 1, and Allgaier won Stage 2.

There were 11 lead changes among eight drivers. Kvapil led a race high of 67 laps.

The caution flag only flew on four occasions, and only one was for an accident. On Lap 58, Taylor Gray was sent spinning in front of the field after he made contact with Harrison Burton. Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Brennan Poole and Lelan Honeyman Jr. were caught up in the accident as well.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com