Sammy Smith Snatches First Truck Win in Wild Talladega Finish

Only a few hours after announcing he will race full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series next year, Sammy Smith went out and won one. The 22-year-old Iowa native led the final lap of overtime in Friday's Love's RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway, his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet crossing the line 0.091 seconds ahead of a four-wide battle for second place. Tyler Ankrum took second, just 0.002 seconds ahead of Smith's teammate Austin Green, with Ty Majeski fourth and championship leader Kaden Honeycutt fifth. It was Smith's first career Truck Series win in his eleventh start, and he led a race-high 21 of the 86 laps. The race featured five cautions and two of Talladega's famous "Big Ones", including a Lap 17 pileup involving eight trucks that ended the day for NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, who managed only 16 laps in his No. 25 Ram, and media personality Cleetus McFarland. Post-race inspection confirmed Smith as the winner, and Honeycutt now leads Layne Riggs by 43 points with two races remaining, at Martinsville and Homestead-Miami.