Friday was a massive day for Sammy Smith, both on and off the racetrack.
Before even hitting the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway, Smith confirmed a full-time seat in the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series in 2027, driving the No. 15 Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage. Then, when the green flag dropped, the Johnson, Iowa-native made sure everybody knew his intentions with a move to Trucks: win races.
Smith, a full-timer in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, was third-place exiting Turn 4 on the final lap of the race, which went into NASCAR Overtime, and swung to the outside of polesitter Ty Majeski to get to the start-finish line ahead of the entire pack by 0.091 seconds.
“Just a great team, honestly,” Smith said post-race when asked how he won the race. “Brian Pattie and the whole No. 7 Spire crew, Michael Fisher did a good job up on the spotter stand, the truck was fast, I feel like we did a good job putting us in the right spot, obviously we lost track position, but man.”
Smith was a force all afternoon long at Talladega Superspeedway, leading a race-high 21 laps, but made a last-lap pass after Ty Majeski, Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, and others interfered at the front of the pack.
“I’m looking forward to racing Trucks next year, I just want to win races, and that’s what I want to do,” Smith added. “I am a winner. I know I can win and I got another shot tomorrow with my No. 8 boys.”
Tyler Ankrum was the highest finisher of the drivers in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase, coming across the line in second-place, beating Austin Green to the start-finish line by 0.002 seconds. Green in his NASCAR Truck Series debut finished third in the No. 77 GUNK Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports.
Ty Majeski and Kaden Honeycutt were both in the mix to get to Victory Lane on Friday, but had to settle for fourth and fifth, after the moves that played out in the tri-oval.
Landen Lewis finished in sixth, with Brenden Queen the highest-finishing driver from RAM in seventh. Layne Riggs, Spencer Boyd, and Corey Heim rounded out the top-10.
Other drivers in the Chase that failed to finish inside the top-10 include Chandler Smith in 14th, Ben Rhodes in 17th, Christian Eckes in 21st, Grant Enfinger in 24th, Gio Ruggiero in 25th, and Daniel Hemric in 35th.
Hemric was involved in the first multi-truck accident of the afternoon which began when Stewart Friesen cut down a right-rear tire and crashed into the pack, destroying at least 10 trucks, including Tony Stewart and Cleetus McFarland.
Stewart came home 34th in his second race of 2026 for RAM, while McFarland finished 36th.
Leaving Talladega, Kaden Honeycutt holds a 43-point lead over Layne Riggs, as the series heads to Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway for its final two events of the season.
