Sammy Smith snapped a 53-race winless streak on Saturday by taking the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series The Progress Group 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. The 2.66-mile race ended in an overtime sprint, with Smith edging Tyler Ankrum by 0.091 seconds before holding off teammate Carson Kvapil for a 0.084-second margin at the finish.
Smith breaks a long drought and makes history
The victory marks the first time a non-Cup driver has won both an O’Reilly and a Craftsman Truck Series event on the same weekend since Greg Biffle did it at Phoenix in 2001. Smith, who announced a full-time return to the Truck Series with TRICON garage in 2027, became the first driver to win two races on a Talladega weekend since Dale Earnhardt Jr. achieved the feat in April 2003.
Team owner Dale reportedly gave Smith explicit instructions before the race. “He wanted us to put the one (Kvapil), the 7 (Allgaier), and the 17 (Day) in position to get Stage points to close that gap,” Smith said, referencing the team’s strategy to maximize points despite his own championship hopes being out of reach.
Second through five in the standings gained on leader Jesse Love, who finished third. Justin Allgaier finished fourth but earned 17 points on Love by winning the first Stage and finishing eighth in the second, while Love failed to collect any Stage points. Allgaier now trails Love by 19 points, keeping the top of the leaderboard tightly contested.
In the standings, Corey Day holds third place, sitting 29 points behind the leader. Sheldon Creed sits 50 points back, while Kvapil, despite finishing second, remains 59 points off the top.
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Kvapil emphasized the importance of maximizing points at Talladega. “We were pretty even and the bottom just had the distance on us,” he said. “I knew going into this weekend it was gonna be a big opportunity for us to have a big points day and really eat away at that gap. We did our job in Stages one and two, got 19 Stage points, and put ourselves in position there at the end to lead the race. I just feel like this was kind of the wild card and we needed a big jump in points leaving this place. I just feel like we’re a little too far to have that Hail Mary day in Martinsville.”
Smith described the race as “mentally draining” and acknowledged the difficulty of the season. “We’re out of the championship, but we can win two more races, and our goal was to win here,” he said after climbing from his Chevrolet.
The event posted an average speed of 139.557 mph and lasted 1 hour, 47 minutes, 30 seconds.
Race finish and points impact
Following the final lap, the podium was completed by Kvapil in the runner-up spot, while Love crossed the line to take third. Behind them, Allgaier rounded out the top five, and Day finished sixth.
