Sammy Smith earned his fourth career win in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series at Talladega Superspeedway, and his first of the 2026 season.
Just like Friday's Truck Series race, Smith pulled off a last-lap pass to claim victory. Driving the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, he passed teammate Carson Kvapil to win by 0.084s at the checkered flag.
"Yeah, I'm out of breath," said Smith. "That was mentally draining. Just thank you to everybody. I mean, it was a great executed race by JRM and Cory [Shea, crew chief]. We did a good job sticking to our plan with getting those guys stage points and I'm sure they wanted them to win, but I had a good, good run there to take it. And I thought (my spotter) did a great job up top to help me get backed up. And thanks to Jesse [Love] for pushing me. I'm sure I'm his biggest fan right now helping -- really I'm just happy for everyone on this No. 8 PILOT Chevrolet. It's been a tough year this year. Thank you to everyone."
Behind the JRM 1-2, championship leader Jesse Love finished third, Justin Allgaier fourth, and Sheldon Creed fifth.
Corey Day, Blaine Perkins, Dean Thompson, Brandon Jones, and Anthony Alfredo filled out the remainder of the top ten.
With just two races left in the 2026 season, Love leads Allgaier by 19 points with Day 29 points behind in third.
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Finch led the way at the start, but things quickly fanned out three-wide. Kvapil prevailed via the top lane, and the pack quickly fell apart into a single-file line around the top.
It remained like that for most of the stage, with several attempts to form a bottom line failing. Late in the stage, Parker Retzlaff went for a spin through the grass entering Turn 3, but the race remained green.
On the final lap of the stage, Creed attempted to make a move from third but it didn't work out as JRM stuck together.
Kvapil won Stage 1, followed by Caruth, Allgaier, Day, and Creed.
During the stage break, Kvapil briefly stalled on pit road as Day took over the lead. Both RCR drivers had issues as Love got a penalty and Hill's team tried to repair radio issues.
On the restart, Kvapil managed to work his way back into the lead and the outside line again became the dominant line.
Dean Thompson pulled off an impressive save mid-pack as he got turned down the track, straightening it out as he made slight contact with another car.
Love was frustrated with his teammate and Hill and him weren't really working together, costing both as the championship leader struggled to collect stage points.
It was a very different story for JRM, as the organization continued to control the race. Allgaier won Stage 2, followed by Kvapil, S. Smith, A. Hill, and Day.
Stage 3
H. Burton and Tay. Gray won the race off pit road, but on the restart, the JRM cars and Hill immediately put the pressure on.
Burton had an indecisive moment in the tri-oval, colliding with Gray as they battled for the lead. Gray spun right in front of the field with both Hill and Jones spinning as well, but Gray escaped with minor damage. Some cars in the back suffered damage in the stack-up, also spinning, including Honeyman.
Caesar Bacarella spun, but the race stayed green. However, the caution flew for debris with just over 20 laps to go. Several cars chose to pit to get some fuel and tires, but the leaders stayed out.
Kvapil led the way for a restart with 16 laps to go. Hill fell off the pace with a flat tire, and was forced to pit under green.
Jake Finch wrecked all by himself behind the pack and hit the wall, but NASCAR kept it green.
The field remained single-file, but at the white flag, Mayer made a dive to the inside from third before being blocked by Kvapil. Smith got a massive run down the backstretch, cutting under Kvapil and clearing him with a push from Love.
NASCAR O'Reilly finish with Sammy Smith winning over Carson Kvapil, Jesse Love, Justin Allgaier, and Sheldon Creed
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images