By David Morgan, Associate Editor
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Worst to first.
Sammy Smith and the No. 8 JR Motorsports team are heading to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs after winning Saturday’s United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Smith came into the day at the bottom of the Playoff standings, some 23 points below the cut-off line, but with his victory on Saturday, he’s the first of the championship contenders to advance to the next round.
“Just a great team. My sponsors, everybody that has stuck with us, it’s been a really tough year,” Smith said. “It’s been a while and it’s been a struggle, but I’m really happy to be here. Looking forward to hopefully going and getting better on these ovals and road courses.”
Starting the day in 27th place, Smith worked his way forward, finishing the second stage inside the top-five and remained there as the finish grew nearer, running amongst his JRM teammates with less than five laps to go.
When the second multi-car crash of the day broke out with three laps to go, wiping out three of his four teammates, Smith and his team had time to formulate a plan under the red flag and once the race headed into overtime, he would line up on the outside of the front row alongside Riley Herbst.
Shuffled out of line by the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed, Sammy found a new dancing partner in Ryan Sieg on the low lane as they took the white flag. For the final 2.66 miles of the race, Sammy would not leave the low lane, using a push from Sieg to advance forward.
A final shove from Sieg pushed Smith clear into the lead as the field entered the tri-oval for the final time, forcing the rest of his competitors to try and find a way around him in the final charge to the finish.
Though Sieg swung wide off the exit of the tri-oval, it was too little, too late as Smith streaked across the line to bank the victory and cement his place in the next round of the Playoffs.
Prior to Saturday’s race, Smith sat down with his team owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., to learn the ways of the master with Earnhardt having a number of superspeedway wins under his belt in both the Xfinity and Cup Series, especially at Talladega.
“We sat down with him on Wednesday. It wasn’t a whole lot, just kind of some stuff that he would do in those situations, but, man, it feels really good to win again.”
Sieg would come home in the runner-up position,…
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